Engagement
by Railynn
Summary: Sun Ce has been engaged to Qiao Da and is sent to retrieve his bride, bringing the beautiful but lonely Zhou Yu along with him. Mai Li and Da have been friends for years, but Li is bored with a woman's life--will she find love and excitement now? Graphic
1. Chapter One

**Engagement**

**Chapter One:**

"Li! Li, where are you?" called Mai Jin as he wandered through the streets in search of his wayward daughter. "Excuse me," he said, stopping by an old woman who was making baskets on the side of the street, "you haven't by chance seen my daughter, have you?" The woman looked up at him, a brow raised. "She is wearing calf-length pants, her hair is down and she's barefoot...she's with the Qiao sisters..." he trailed off as the woman nodded profusely. She pointed down the street.

"Thank you!" Mai Jin said, then he tossed a coin to the woman and ran off down the street. The old woman shook her head as she watched him.

* * *

"Da! Xiao! This way!" Mai Li called, leading Qiao Da and Qiao Xiao into a shop filled with fans of all kinds.

"Wow!" Xiao exclaimed upon entering. Her older sister, Da, smiled at her younger sister's exuberance.

"These are such beautiful fans, Li, how did you ever find this shop?" Da asked her friend.

"I just sort of stumbled on it one day when Father let me explore the marketplace while he was selling his goods," Li replied, shrugging. "I knew you two would love it, and thought maybe you could get some really nice fans to use. I asked the shop owner and he said that he could easily make some that would befit the beautiful Qiao sisters."

Mai Li and the Qiao sisters had become fast friends at a young age when Li's father had brought her to the Qiao residence to become a companion to the lonely girls. Li was an only child of a fairly wealthy farmer, and her mother had died when she was very young. Being the only thing left of his beloved wife, Mai Jin had allowed his daughter much freedom. Now that she was sixteen, however, Mai Jin somewhat regretted the freedom he had allowed his daughter, for she was wild and impulsive, never one to settle down into the quieter ways of women.

In fact, she had quickly developed a fascination for swordplay through displays seen at the market when Mai Jin delivered his goods. In order to keep her away from the dangerous weapons, he had been forced to allow her to take up knife fighting at the Qiao residence. Since the Qiao sisters were themselves learning to be proficient with weapons–their weapon of choice being twin fans–it hadn't seemed to be such a bad thing. It kept her out of trouble, at least.

Alas that Li was very quick to learn and soon became expert at close combat, throwing, and anything else the tutors could teach her. She was a very strong girl, and comfortable in her skin (so long as she was in leggings and not a dress), which made her movements sure and graceful. She was forced to leave combat with fans to her friends, however, when it was discovered that she had no aptitude with those weapons. It was highly recommended that she take up a sword, but Mai Jin would not let her, thinking swordplay much too masculine for his daughter. Since when did girls use swords, anyway?

When the Qiao sisters had ordered themselves each a new pair of fans out of their allowance, the trio of girls left the shop and nearly ran into Mai Jin. "Father!" Li exclaimed. "What's going on?"

"Ah, Li, I've finally found you! Qiao Da, Qiao Xiao," he said, bowing to the sisters. "Your father wants you home immediately–there is an envoy from Lord Sun Jian."

"A royal envoy?" Li asked, excited at the thought. There would be soldiers in that caravan!

"Yes," her father replied, "and don't think I don't know what you're thinking! You are to be clothed like a proper lady before any of Sun Jian's people gets a glimpse of you!"

"Mai Li can borrow one of my dresses, Mai Jin," Da said, bowing slightly to Jin. "We are close enough in size. Xiao and I would be honored if you would allow your daughter to meet the envoy with us."

Mai Jin was torn, but the calm words of Qiao Da swayed him in the end. Knowing what the envoy's purpose was, he realized that he might never see his daughter again, but she would have a better life if she were to go live in the capitol. With any luck, she would even learn to be a lady.

He bowed, and then led the way back to the market where they had left their horses. The Qiao sisters mounted their shared horse, and Mai Li mounted her father's old war horse. Though the horse hadn't seen battle in several years, he still had fire in him. She bade her father farewell, and the trio rode off.

They took the trail that led to the rear of the Qiao residence rather than the more straightforward road so that the caravan would not see them before they were ready. None of them wanted to be seen by the royal envoy dusty from the ride and the market–except, perhaps, Mai Li.

When they came within sight of the Qiao residence, they dismounted and walked the two horses quietly up to the back gate where a steward was always posted in case of just such an event. The man immediately took the horses to be fed and watered, and the girls slipped into a servants' entryway and hurried up to the Qiao sisters' chambers.

"Oh, Da," Xiao said excitedly, "what if Lord Sun Jian wants you to marry one of his sons?"

Da was very quiet, and Li could see that her friend's skin was paler than usual. Xiao, being younger and more immature, seemed not to notice and kept talking about marriage and royalty as they all cleaned up and Da picked out a dress that would fit Li, who was slightly taller than Da herself.

"Do you think you can handle these?" Da asked, her voice barely above a whisper as she held out a pair of slippers. "They were made a little too big for me, but they shouldn't be too bad a fit for you."

Li made a face, bringing a tiny smile to Da's lips. Li hated wearing girly clothes, and they all knew it.

Though she hated getting dressed up, she understood the necessity of it now, so she took the slippers and put them on. They only pinched her toes a little, thank the good gods, and she thought she could walk in them.

"There's no time to fix your hair," Xiao said, and handed Li a brush, "so this is the best we're going to be able to do."

Li smiled at the exuberant Xiao and brushed out her long glossy black hair until it shone blue in the light. Once brushed, Li quickly tied it in a knot at the nape of her neck to keep the wealth of it out of her face. Da then handed her a fan that complemented her dress and eyes. Unlike Da and Xiao, whose eyes were a beautiful amber hue, Li's eyes were so dark they looked black.

Finally, they were all ready. Flipping their fans open, they filed out of the room with Da in the lead and Li at the rear.

* * *

Alrighty, prequel begun...This will almost definitely not be very long...5 chapters at most, I think, but what do I know? I'm only the writer, after all...the story will decide how long it needs to be. Hopefully this helps some of the confusion with the other story. Some feedback would VERY much be appreciated, and any reviews I do get I will reply to in the next chapter. So, any questions any of you have will be answered, and comments replied to. Thanks! 


	2. Chapter Two

**Chapter Two:**

Sun Ce and Zhou Yu were speaking with Qiao Xuan when the girls entered the room–Da and Xiao side by side with Mai Li more or less unnoticed behind the girls. "Ah, my daughters! And Mai Li! It is well that you have come, for I was going to summon you as well." Qiao Xuan exclaimed as they entered the room and bowed.

Zhou smiled at the look of surprise and instant infatuation on his best friend's face. The Qiao sisters were indeed as beautiful as rumor proclaimed, but he couldn't bring himself to care overly much. Sun Ce, however, had always been one to appreciate a woman. No, Zhou was more interested in the woman behind the sisters–Mai Li?–who seemed to be more or less trying to hide. He had overheard a few things about her already since he had been here, but hadn't thought that he would get the chance to meet the girl who had the weapons teachers scrambling to find something new for her to learn with her knives. They had talked about bringing out daggers, just for something slightly diverting, and then they had walked out of Zhou's hearing.

His interest had been sparked–not many women were interested in the art of using straight bladed weapons, and he was not interested in women who were more interested in their looks and pretty clothes than anything else in life. He wanted a woman who would spar with him, who shared the same love of the feel of a blade in his hands, and he had yet to find one.

As if feeling his gaze on her, she looked up, the hand holding her fan lowering for a moment so that he saw her face. Her eyes widened and she quickly dropped her gaze again and raised her fan–as was proper for a woman. A smile turned the corners of his lips up, and he wrested his attention from her to pay attention to what was being said.

"It has been agreed," Qiao Xuan said to Da, "that you, my eldest daughter, shall be wed to the lord Sun Ce two years from this day. When the caravan leaves in two days, you will go with your new fiancé to the capitol and live in Sun Jian's own palace."

Zhou spared a glance for Qiao Da, who bowed to her father. She showed no trace of emotion in her eyes–the only part of her face seen for the fan that covered the rest. So, the girl wasn't exactly thrilled to be married. He couldn't blame her–she, after all, knew nothing about her future husband and now she was engaged and leaving all that she knew behind with barely enough time to bid it all farewell.

"Am I going to go to the palace as well, Father?" Qiao Xiao asked excitedly. Zhou had to suppress a smile at the obviously younger and immature girl's rudeness.

"No, Xiao," her father said sternly, and she immediately quieted, lowering her eyes in shame. "However, I will send a companion with you, Da," he said more gently. "Mai Li, you have been a great friend to my daughter for a long time, for which I thank you. I would ask you one thing, however. Will you accompany my daughter and continue to be her friend in the unknown?"

Mai Li stepped forward and bowed before Qiao Xuan. "It would be my honor, sir, if your daughter will have me," she replied. Zhou couldn't help but feel a tingle of pleasure at the sound of her voice. It was rich and velvety, pleasing to the ear as she was to the eye–though he noted with amusement that her long hair was simply tied back in a knot rather than wound intricately up on top of her head.

"It is settled then," Qiao Xuan stated simply. "I will send a message to your father, Mai Li, to have your things brought here as soon as possible."

Everyone stood, then, made all the appropriate bows, and the women left the chamber, followed by Sun Ce and Zhou Yu.

While the Qiao sisters and Mai Li returned to their rooms, Zhou and Sun Ce went to the caravan. "She's beautiful, Zhou, I can't believe it," Sun Ce was saying.

"What, did you think the rumors were exaggerated?" Zhou asked teasingly.

"Well, you never know!" his friend exclaimed, a bit defensively.

They parted ways when they reached the caravan–Sun Ce to give the orders for their moving out in two days and Zhou to his tent to retrieve his sword. He had a feeling that Mai Li would emerge from the sisters' quarters soon enough to go to the training room.

* * *

Xiao chattered about how exciting it was that her sister was engaged to be married and how she was so disappointed that she wouldn't be going with her, and what was she going to do with her sister _and _Mai Li gone?

Da was very quiet and thoughtful, and Li was concerned for her friend.

"Xiao," Li said softly, and shook her head, motioning for silence. Xiao quieted as they entered their quarters, and almost immediately excused herself to go into her private rooms.

"Da?" Li queried her quiet friend. "Are you all right?"

Da smiled–forcedly–and replied, "Yes, Li, I'm fine. I think I'll go start packing, if you'll excuse me."

"Alright."

Da went into her private chambers, leaving Mai Li alone in the outer room. She sighed with concern, and then decided to change into her leggings and the shift she wore when she trained with her knives. A bout or two with her knives would do her good right now, she thought.

A few minutes later, fully changed, she laid Da's dress–neatly folded–and slippers on an end table, and left the quarters to go to the training room, braiding her long hair on the way.

* * *

He hadn't been waiting long when she entered the room, clad in form-fitting cloth leggings, a simple sleeveless shift, and worn boots, her hair now bound in a braid that reached down her back all the way to her thighs. He approved of her prudence–she obviously wasn't one for unnecessary decoration, and wore clothes that allowed full freedom of movement. He also approved of the figure she cut in the clothes. She was lean and lithe, with all the smooth grace of a leopard.

She didn't seem to notice him until she went to pick up her knives, and when she saw him sitting there with his sword unsheathed across his lap, she froze–again reminding him of a leopard, unsure whether he posed a threat.

"I hear you're quite good with knives, Mai Li," he said, and she relaxed a little–only a little–and nodded warily. "Have you ever worked with long daggers? A sword?" She shook her head to both questions. "Then we shall have to see what you can do with the knives, first," he said and stood up smoothly.

"Since you seem to know me, it would be only fair if you would give your name and explain what you mean by that," she said tartly.

He smiled. This was a girl with fire behind those dark eyes! He was beginning to think that he could immensely enjoy her presence. "I am Zhou Yu. Stand on your guard!"

* * *

Alrighty, chapter two completed. Any thoughts? 


	3. Chapter Three

**Chapter Three:**

He rushed at her, and her face registered complete shock–but she crossed her knives and brought them up just in time to catch the blade of his sword on them. The strength of his attack sent a shock up her arms and she stepped aside, to use some of his own momentum against him by twisting his blade out of his grip.

She wasn't done there. She quickly stepped up behind him and brought the hilt of one of her knives down on his head–or would have, if he hadn't stepped out of her way himself and grabbed her wrist, pressing the nerves that made her hand open and drop the knife.

"Good," he said simply.

She dropped the knife in her free hand and punched him–hard–in the face, making him let go of her wrist. Seeing him reach down to pick up his sword, she spun around to the shelf with weapons on it and grabbed the first things she saw–two daggers, as it happened–and turned back to face him, ready for any attack he might launch. He was on her in a second, swinging and thrusting his sword at her almost faster than she could see, but she parried every attack, one or both daggers always ready to meet his blade. It was difficult at first to get used to her new weapons–they were at least six inches longer than her knives and heavier to boot–but she found the rhythm quickly.

They finally came to a stalemate when he pinned her against the wall, his sword caught on the cross of her daggers. "Enough," he said breathlessly, his eyes on her intense with...what emotion? He stepped back, taking his sword with him, and replaced it in its sheath. She staggered over to the shelf and replaced the daggers, her arms trembling with exhaustion from the extra weight and Zhou Yu's hard attacks.

She had never been more exhausted in her life. Her instructors had never worked her so hard, and she was dripping with sweat.

* * *

He watched her put the daggers back on the shelf, pleased with his ruse–if exhausted. He had instructed that everyone except Mai Li be kept out of the room until he was finished with it, and had ordered all weapons save the knives, daggers, and an extra sword be taken out. He was sweating like a horse, so he removed his shirt, and was surprised to see all the slashes in the article of clothing–not to mention the thin red stripes on his torso that were leaking a very small amount of blood. So she had gotten in a few swipes of her own! And that punch...He brought a hand to his jaw. It was swelling–he would have a fantastic bruise in an hour or so, but he smiled anyway.

She was good..._very _good. She must have practiced extensively on her own to be that quick on her feet and clever in tactics. He hadn't been able to pull many tricks on her, and what few he did manage she had countered admirably. Her moves were graceful, smooth, confident–so much so, in fact, that he realized how uncomfortable and clumsy she had been in the dress from earlier! She hadn't been half so graceful in the fine clothing as she was when she was fighting. He watched her with a smile on his face as she regained her breath by the weapon shelf, her back to him. If she was that good with the long daggers, which she had never before fought with by her own admission, how good would she become with a sword? Not that he would take away her twin daggers–absolutely not, it was too great a strength, but she could easily become proficient at swordplay as well as with her knives.

He smiled broadly as he thought about sparring with this fiery woman.

"Just _what _do you think is so funny?" a sharp voice asked, intruding upon his brief fantasy. "What were you thinking, charging at me like that with an unprotected blade! Do you know how dangerous that was! I could have been killed! I could have killed _you, _you great idiot, and _then _where would I be! In the dungeons for killing one of the greatest generals of Wu!" She had apparently regained control of her breathing, and was using it to yell at him with that rich voice of hers.

"So you have heard of me," he said wryly.

"Of course I have! Who hasn't? I just hadn't expected you to be such a maniac!"

"Look, I wasn't going to hurt you," he started when she took a deep breath to continue her tirade. "I had to see how you'd react when you thought your life was in danger to gauge how good you were with your weapon of choice–turns out I got to see you use a weapon you've never used before as well.

"And as to possibly killing me...do you really think you could have?" he asked cockily.

She pointedly looked at the thin ribbons of red on his torso. When a sheepish blush came over his face, she lifted her chin with pride, and there was an "I told you so" look in her eyes.

"I admit, you are better than I expected. When I made you drop one of your knives I was going to stop it and try you out on the daggers, but you beat me to it," he said ruefully, gingerly touching his jaw, which was throbbing with pain. "And, I have to say that I was a little angry after you punched me. But that's not the point. Do you want to learn swordplay?" he asked abruptly.

She stared at him blankly.

"I take that as a yes," he said brusquely. "Meet me here at dawn for your first lesson." With that, he picked up his tattered shirt and left the training hall.

Inexplicably infuriated, Mai Li took up the daggers again and stayed and practiced, pummeling the defenseless dummies until well after dark.

* * *

While Mai Li was taking out her anger on wooden men, a hooded man was sneaking up to the Qiao sisters' rooms in the dark. He was very much surprised when the door slid open just as he was about to knock and he came face to face with none other than Qiao Da.

"Lord Sun Ce!" she exclaimed, and he put a hand on her mouth, motioning for her to be quieter.

"Qiao Da, will you come with me? I want to talk to you," he whispered.

She hesitated for a moment, then nodded, and proceeded to lead him outside the residence to a modest garden with a small pond. She motioned for him to sit on one of the benches, and she herself sat on another bench. They looked at the pond in the moonlight for a long time, neither of them speaking, when Sun Ce suddenly said, "I'm sorry."

Da looked at him, surprised, and asked, "For what?"

"For not giving you a chance to consent to be married to me. My father told me I needed to get married, so he sent a letter to your father requesting a betrothal between you and I. Your father sent an enthusiastic letter back, so Dad sent an envoy to retrieve you. He wasn't going to send me, but I convinced him to in hopes that I could talk to you and get to know you before returning to the city. Please forgive me," he said, the story spilling out of him like water.

Suddenly, Qiao Da smiled. She very much appreciated his honesty, and after some thought had realized that she could have been engaged to someone far worse than Sun Ce. He was handsome, and had just proven that he was honest. He also had a boyish charm about him that attracted her, even though she hardly knew anything about him as of yet. She decided right then and there that she liked him, and she would, indeed, get to know her husband-to-be better before–and during–the trip to the city.

But she wasn't going to start tonight. It was late, and it would be unseemly if they were seen together alone so late at night, so she bid him good night and went back to her room while he returned to his tent.

* * *

Alright, another chapter completed. Thanks very much to my first reviewer, Winds of Eternity! I'm glad you like it so far. I would have replied to your review in the last chapter, but been a bit slow today, so I didn't get it until late! Thank you again, and I hope you like the new chapters. I'm going to attempt to finish this story before continuing with the other one, but who knows...now that I've said something I'll probably get hit by inspiration for the other one, lol. 


	4. Chapter Four

**Chapter Four:**

Zhou himself was just returning to the camp when Sun Ce came back. He had remained outside the door of the training hall for some time, listening to Mai Li vent her anger. She was definitely fiery, but it only served to make him even more attracted to her. He winced at the memory of the way she had whipped him with her words in that beautiful voice. He was going to have to guard his feelings well around her if he didn't want to get hurt–and the fact that she _could _possibly hurt him startled him for a moment. He had known the girl for all of a few hours, and yet she was already worming her way under his skin.

"Zhou! You're out late," Sun Ce said, breaking him out of his thoughts.

He smiled. "So are you."

"Yeah, well, I went to talk to–_whoa, _what happened to your face?" Sun Ce asked when he got close enough to see the damage that had been wreaked upon him by a vengeful maid. "And your shirt! It looks like you've been in a battle!"

"I have been," Zhou said wryly. "Remember the girl, Mai Li?" At the blank look on his best friend's face, he laughed. "I should have guessed that you wouldn't–you were too busy looking at your fiancé. Mai Li was the third woman that came in, she's Qiao Da's companion that is returning with us to the city."

"Ok, I think I know what you're talking about...but what does this have to do with you being in a battle?" Sun Ce asked, puzzled.

"She's the one I battled."

"You're kidding! What, did you let her stomp all over you?"

"No, I didn't. I was testing her out to see how good she was with knives and daggers and, well, she's better than I had expected her to be. And more creative," he said, working his painful jaw which was now a lovely shade of black/purple.

Sun Ce laughed. "A girl defeated you?" he asked, amused.

"No!" Zhou Yu replied defensively. "It came to a draw," he said, trying to salvage his dignity. It didn't work.

"I can't believe it," his friend said, still laughing. "The greatest general of Wu, and you were defeated–I mean, you had a _draw_–with a girl. This is great, I can't wait to tell Dad..."

"_You _try taking her on and see what happens!"

* * *

Incidentally enough, Mai Li returned to the Qiao sisters' quarters shortly after Da herself had come back in from the gardens. "Mai Li!" Da exclaimed when a tired Li entered. "Where have you been all this time?"

"I had a run-in with an infuriating, completely insane Wu general," Li replied with a sigh. She told her friend the story, then said, "He's giving me my first lesson in swordplay at dawn."

Da stared at Li incredulously. "You mean you fought against Zhou Yu and _he _came away the worse for wear?"

Li grinned at the memory. "If you don't believe me, take a look at his face in the morning," she said, and then laughed. "So why are you up so late, Da?" she asked suddenly, switching the topic.

The girl blushed, much to Li's astonishment and said, "Lord Sun Ce wished to speak with me. I took him out to the garden."

"Oh really! And what did you two 'speak' about out there in the romantic moonlit garden?" Li asked teasingly.

"Li!" Da exclaimed, her cheeks still rosy with embarrassment.

Mai Li subsided. "You like him, don't you?" she asked, looking closely at her friend.

"Yes, I think I do," Da whispered, looking down at her lap. She would say no more after that, regardless of Li's pleading.

Eventually Li gave up and they went to sleep.

* * *

Dawn came much too soon for Mai Li, who groaned as she sat up and stretched. Her arms and back were on fire from yesterday's bout, and she had no doubt that when she stood up her legs would feel the same. She nearly laid back down and went to sleep again, but remembered that she had a meeting with a maniac of a general in the training hall. Only the fact that he was going to teach her about the one weapon she most wanted to learn made her pull on her clothes–which, she reflected, would _have _to be washed after this...not to mention that she needed a bath as well.

First things first, however: get this lesson out of the way and get away from Zhou Yu as soon as she possibly could. She grinned as she moved swiftly through the corridors. It would be interesting to see how his jaw was doing, at least. She couldn't regret that in the least, considering the way he had attacked her. She still couldn't believe that he had been stupid enough to do something like that with unprotected blades.

She was still shaking her head when she slid the door to the training hall open. He was standing completely motionless in the center of the room, his back to her. She couldn't help but notice that today he was wearing a sleeveless shirt that revealed his lean-muscled arms and loose, baggy pants. His long hair was hanging down his back as it had yesterday, the red band around his head holding back unwanted hairs from getting into his face. She didn't understand why he didn't just pull it into a topknot or a braid–maybe he was simply too into his own good looks to do so.

Whatever the reason, she would have to wait for an explanation, for he said, without so much as turning around, "I want you to pick up every sword on the shelf. Test each one for weight and grip, and find out which one feels most comfortable to you. Do this in silence, if you can manage a simple thing as that."

Fuming, she did as he bade. The first five swords were too heavy–she thought that even on a good day she would barely be able to pick them up. They must have been at least three quarters of her own body weight. She picked up several other blades, and while some were light enough, their grips were terrible for her hands, and there were even a few that were too light in her grasp. She was down to three, and was beginning to lose hope that she would find one that would be comfortable.

Finally, on the second to last one, she seemed to find the best of the lot. It was a slightly curved blade, narrow near the hilt and widening down the length before narrowing to a sharp tip at the end. The grip seemed to mold to her hand, and while it was still a little too heavy, she thought she could work with it, given time to build up her strength a bit more. Still, she put it down. He had said to pick up every blade, and so she picked up the last one as well. Finding it decidedly unsatisfactory, she replaced it and took up the one she was pleased with once more.

"Today," he started, and she turned around to look at him, a bit puzzled to find that he was moving with slow and precise movements, almost as if he were dancing, "we will find your balance. You cannot simply swing a sword right away, you must first learn to find balance within yourself and with the earth you stand on. Once you find that balance, you will begin to learn the dance." While he talked, he kept moving, his sword seeming to scribe designs slowly in the air. It reminded her of moving in water, and she found herself studying his lines of movement, the way his feet fell softly to the floor and how his supple body moved with catlike grace.

When he stopped, he was in the same position as he had been when she first entered the room. She shook her head to clear the haze of the hypnotic state she had fallen into all unknowing.

"Come here," he said, not moving. She obeyed, and when she reached him he stepped aside and bade her stand where he had been. "Spread your feet a little farther apart, one foot slightly ahead of the other–put both hands on the hilt of your blade, turn your body the same direction as your forward foot," he said, and she quickly complied. "Now," he said, moving to stand behind her, "you lift your blade like this..."

He put a hand on each of her wrists and lifted them, adjusting the way her hands held the hilt of the sword so that they were a little farther apart. His masculine scent and the warmth of his body against her back and on her hands inadverdently sent a wave of excitement and pleasant warmth through her body.When he was satisfied with her position, he let her go and circled around her once. "Good. Now remain exactly like that until I tell you differently. Do not move. I shall return in a few minutes, but don't think to change your position while I'm gone–I _will _know."

With that, he walked out of the room, leaving her to mentally curse him and erasing all pleasant feelings she might have felt towards him earlier.

* * *

I've discovered that this story WILL indeed be longer than 5 chapters, apparently. There's more that has to develop and such, and it's going to take longer than expected. Not that this is a bad thing, mind you!

Winds of Eternity: I know I sent you an e-mail earlier, but I have to thank you again! Soon as I get the chance, I'll read one or two of your DW fics–they look interesting.


	5. Chapter Five

**Chapter Five:**

She stood exactly as she had been commanded, and though the heavy sword weighed on her already sore arms and back, she kept it raised in its exact position–to prove to him that she _could_, and that she wasn't a weakling little girl. Even so, every second felt like hours, and there was no way to gauge time's passage except by watching the way the sun slanted in the window and the beads of sweat that formed on her forehead to drip down her face.

Eventually, she heard the door slide open behind her and fervently hoped that it was Zhou Yu come back to release her from this tormenting positon. When she heard several men's voices, laughing and talking amongst themselves, she almost slumped in despair, but kept herself firmly upright and prevented herself from turning to look. She knew that the voices didn't belong to anyone that lived on the Qiao residence, so she had to assume that they were Wu soldiers with the caravan.

"What's this?" one of the men asked loudly. "A statue?"

"If it is a statue, then the sculpter needs a flogging!" another man replied. "Women don't hold swords!"

She heard the men walk closer to her–five of them, by the varying sounds of their footsteps and breathing patterns.

"Ah, so it isn't a statue, but a living, breathing girl!" the first man said. "Poor thing, she's sweating like a horse. Why doesn't she just put the weapon down and return to proper, womanly pursuits that are easier than playing at being a man?"

Li clenched her teeth, doing her best to ignore the men, sure that they were here on Zhou Yu's orders to taunt her out of her stance.

"She's ignoring us," one of the men whispered.

"Pay attention to your superiors, girl!" a different voice said angrily. She stared at the blade of the sword firmly, not wishing to look at the men circling around her.

"Perhaps she wishes to fight!" still another voice said, and she heard steel being drawn all around her. Inwardly, she panicked while outwardly her expression remained hard. Was Zhou Yu even more insane than she had thought?

"Why isn't she moving?"

"Maybe she's scared stiff!"

"I think she's just being insolent," said the angry man, and she felt the flat of a blade slap across her rump.

"Girl's got guts, you've gotta give her that!"

"Look at her, she didn't even flinch!"

"I'll show her!" the man said furiously, incensed that he was apparently being humiliated in front of his friends by a mere woman. "Think you won't move?" he whispered right into her ear. "We'll just see how much you can take." He proceeded to poke and prod her with the tip of his blade, but she wouldn't give her insane teacher the satisfaction of breaking her stance. She clenched her teeth all the harder, biting back cries of pain and the urge to cut this man to ribbons at every poke of his blade. He seemed to be getting angrier and angrier with each jab, as the pokes got harder, pierced her shift to the skin beneath, but she still wouldn't move.

She kept her eyes on the blade of her sword, trying to ignore the pain and hoping that it was only sweat sliding down her back, sides, and belly. The harder the stabs, the more she had to wonder whether this perhaps wasn't any of Zhou Yu's doing.

A burning stripe of pain slashed diagonally from her ribs to her buttock, settling the matter in her mind. She swung the blade around quickly, turning it at the last second so only the flat hit her aggressor on the head, dropping him to the floor. Knowing she had no chance with a sword against the other four men, whose expressions were furious with her for dropping their friend, she dropped the sword and dashed between two of the men to the shelf, frantically searching for her knives or, even better, the longer daggers. It would be easier to defend herself with the longer blades–_if _she could find the cursed things!

Her time was out when she felt the hand clamp roughly on her shoulder, she immediately grabbed it and turned, twisting him over her shoulder and onto the floor. The daggers weren't there, and she had nothing to defend herself with against the remaining men who were grimly advancing upon her, swords pointed at her. Her breath was coming in the short gasps brought on by panic, and her eyes darted all over the room, coming to rest on the man on the floor and the gleam of a dagger at his belt. She darted over to the man who was just beginning to pull himself off the floor and snatched the blade from its sheath. One blade was better than none!

She backed away from the men, noticing with dismay that they blocked the way to the door, and thus escape. "Gods above, help me," she said in barely more than a whisper, unable to force more sound between her lips. Suddenly, she could back up no further–she had hit the wall. Unfortunately, the men kept advancing.

Luckily, they weren't the smartest people, and one broke away from the group and rushed her. She easily sidestepped him and took advantage of the gap he had created and ducked through it, running for all she was worth down the long hall, though one of the men had had the presence of mind to swipe at her as she dashed through, and a stinging blaze of pain erupted on her back.

Why didn't the door seem to be getting any closer? she wondered as she kept running. And why was there a gray haze blurring her vision?

Suddenly she was brought to an abrupt halt, and a strong arm snaked around her to prevent her from falling. She looked up to the incredibly welcome sight of Zhou Yu's face, his eyes filled with concern as he looked down at her. "Why is everything but you spinning?" she whispered, and then knew no more.

* * *

Gasp Oh no, what will happen next! Stay tuned for the next chapter!

Winds–Oh, I know it, isn't he so hot? drool What I'd give to have him as my sword teacher;)


	6. Chapter Six

**Chapter Six:**

"What the hell is going on here?" Sun Ce asked the four men who had suddenly stopped moving and dropped their swords. Zhou had dropped to his knees as the girl Mai Li fainted away in his arms.

"Lord Sun Ce, we–we didn't mean to!" the men said, almost as one. "It was Li Du! She–she wouldn't move, so he was–was playing with her a bit, when she suddenly bashed him on the head with her sword!"

"She's bleeding, Ce," Zhou said, worry tinging his tone. "A lot."

"I don't see a sword, gentlemen," Sun Ce said, his voice dangerously soft.

"She dropped it after she hit Du!" one of the men cried.

"_Enough!_" Sun Ce bellowed, and the men fell to the floor, groveling. "Zhou, take her and treat her wounds."

He picked her up as gently as he could and took her from the training hall, knowing that Ce would admirably take care of the men who had apparently injured his student.

When he had left her in the hall that morning, he had gone to find his friend in order to invite him to Mai Li's first lesson. It had taken longer than he had expected to drag Ce out of bed and then away from his breakfast, and when he had finally returned to the hall with Sun Ce in tow, fully expecting a furious Mai Li to yell at him. He had been shocked, therefore, when she had fallen into his arms and fainted a moment later not two seconds after he had slid the door open.

Now, he stood puzzled in the corridor, his arms full of Mai Li. Where was the infirmary? Damn it, if she hadn't fainted she could tell him the way...and where were the servants he knew worked here?

Sighing, he carried her outside and to his tent, for a lack of anywhere else to put her. The camp was full of life, and as he came across soldiers he ordered them to bring lots of fresh linen and two buckets of hot water to his tent _immediately. _The men scurried to do his bidding, and not a minute after he had carefully laid her on her uninjured side on his bedroll, the linens were piled on a short table and the buckets set next to him. He picked up a small knife and peeled the torn part of her shift away from the gash in her side and proceeded to cut it off of her body after dismissing everyone from the tent.

It was a painstaking process, and when he was finished (kindly leaving the part of the shift that covered her breasts in place, as it was the only part of the article of clothing that remained whole and unpunctured), he was appalled at all the puncture wounds around her belly and back, not to mention the profusely bleeding gash in her side and the shallower–though no less painful, he thought–slice across her back. As he dunked one of the squares of cloth into the hot water, he prayed that he would have the punishing of the men. He wrung the cloth out, and applied it to the deepest part of her wound, pressing firmly to stanch the flow of blood.

Apparently the pain shocked her out of unconsciousness and she jerked under his hands, crying out. "Hush," he said gently, and she subsided, her chest heaving and her body trembling. "I have to stop the flow of blood." He picked up the cloth that had fallen to the bedroll when she had jerked, and applied it firmly once more to her wound.

Only a slight whimper escaped her lips, and her body trembled all the more. Looking at her, he saw tears of pain squeezing out of her tightly closed eyes.

"Tell me what happened," he said. "It will help take your concentration off the pain."

"I–" she began shakily, "I was doing what you told me to...staying in the exact same position you had put me in...ah! It hurts!...It seemed like hours had gone by, but I kept standing there, if only to prove to you that I wasn't a weak little girl–that I could handle any challenge you set in front of me. Then...then those men came in. They were taunting me, but I didn't move, I swear it! I thought that you had sent them to try to make me break stance, but I didn't give in. Then...one of them started to poke me with the tip of his sword...he kept poking at me, harder and harder, and I wondered why you were letting it go on, and then...OW!" she exclaimed. He had stopped putting pressure on her side, and was cleaning the cut on her back in spite of her uncontrollable muscle spasms every time he touched the slice.

"Please continue," Zhou said gently.

"Well, then he cut me across my side...and I decided that whether you'd sent him or not that I wasn't going to take any more, so I bashed him on the side of the head with the flat of my sword. He fell to the ground, and the other guys were angry, they were brandishing their weapons at me, and I knew I couldn't fight them with a sword, I just didn't know enough, so I dropped the sword and went to find my knives or the daggers, but they weren't _there, _and then one of them grabbed my shoulder and I flipped him. He had a dagger, I saw, so I grabbed it and they were blocking my escape, I just didn't know what to do..." she broke off a moment, wracked with pain as he rubbed a little too vehemently in his anger. He apologized, and bade her to continue while doing his best to be gentle.

"One of them rushed me, so I ran through the gap he had created, and I guess one of the men was paying attention and swiped at my back as I ran past. Then...Then...I don't remember any more."

He carefully helped her sit upright, then removed the blood-soaked square of cloth from her side to check the bleeding. There was a sluggish flow, but it wasn't nearly so bad as it had been earlier, when the precious fluid had been pouring out of her. He quickly readied another clean cloth, pressed it to the wound, and wrapped more cloth around her middle to keep it in place.

"There, you should be fine now. No more sword lessons until this closes up, though, do you understand?" he asked sternly, looking her straight in the eye.

"Yes," she said softly, dropping her gaze from his.

"Why did you think I had sent those idiots in to test you?" he asked. "Do you really think I'm so cruel?"

"Well, how was I supposed to know any better? Yesterday you attacked me with an unprotected blade, and then told me to meet you for my first sword lesson at dawn. I didn't know anything about you except that you seemed like a madman!" she said in her defense, once again raising her eyes to meet his.

"And what do you know about me now?" he asked, curious.

Inexplicably, her cheeks reddened, and she dropped her gaze again.

Then they heard someone calling for her, and Li was saved from having to answer his question and from enduring his intense gaze and close proximity any longer.

"I'm in here!" she called, and would have gone out but for the sudden realization that she had only a strip of cloth to cover her breasts.

Her sudden realization made him realize the same thing, and he took out one of his own shirts for her to put on. Both of their faces uncontrollably red, they turned their backs on each other while she put the shirt on and removed what little remained of her shift.

She turned around and put a hand on his shoulder. He turned around as well. "Thank you," she said sincerely. Then they heard the call again, and Li bowed to him and stepped outside the tent.

He heard her say, "I'm right here," and then she apparently moved away. He sat down and sighed, running a hand back through his hair. Why did he care so much?


	7. Chapter Seven

**Chapter Seven:**

"Da!" Mai Li said as she approached her friend.

"Li! I was so worried!" Da said, rushing up to her. "I went to see how you were doing in your lesson, but when I got there, Lord Sun Ce was yelling at these men and you were nowhere to be found, so when he was finished shouting at those soldiers I asked where you were and he said that Zhou Yu had taken you to get your wounds treated, but you weren't with the healer, so I looked all over for you, but now here you are!" she exclaimed, her breath finally seeming to run out after her extremely long sentence. "What happened?" she asked when she took a deep breath, then looked at what Li was wearing. "Whose shirt is that?"

"Um," Li said, blushing. "It's..."

"Mai Li!" came a voice from behind her. She turned, and saw Sun Ce striding towards her.

"Lord Sun Ce," she replied, bowing.

"I need your account of what happened in the training hall this morning," he said.

"That won't be necessary, Ce," Zhou said, stepping out of his tent. "She told me, I'll fill you in. Let Mai Li go rest, she's lost a lot of blood." Zhou took Sun Ce's arm and turned him around, steering him toward the tent, already telling him the story of the morning.

* * *

"What did he mean, you lost a lot of blood?" Da asked, concerned.

"Exactly what he said. And I think he's right, now that the adrenaline is wearing off I think I need to go sit down or something," Li said, feeling a wave of fatigue wash over her.

"Of course! Let's get you back to our rooms, I'll call the healer," she said, and they walked back towards the Qiao residence. "Why didn't he take you to the healer in the first place?" she asked, puzzled.

"I don't know, he may not have known where it was. They only got here yesterday, after all," Li replied, hoping she could rest soon. With every step her feet dragged more and more, and a haze of gray that she _knew _should be familiar surrounded her vision. "Da..." she said weakly. "Da, I don't think I can make it..."

Da looked over at Li questioningly, and, seeing that her friend's skin was unnaturally pale, tried to catch her before she fell, but only managed to be dragged down with her taller and heavier friend. Helpless, unable to drag Li, Da called for help.

* * *

"...slashed her side, and that was the first time she moved–to knock him out," Zhou was telling Sun Ce when they began to hear faint cries for help.

"That sounds like Da!" Ce exclaimed, and was up and out of his tent in a flash. Thinking that Mai Li was perhaps in trouble–he knew he should have made her stay–Zhou followed quickly.

Seeing Li on the ground, motionless, he felt a sharp stab of foreboding, but quickly dismissed it. When Ce moved to pick her up, Zhou quickly stepped up and did it himself without knowing why he couldn't bear to have his best friend take care of her. "Bring the healer," he said curtly and strode off, presumably back to his tent, Mai Li's legs dangling limp over one of his arms, her head lolling against his shoulder.

Ce and Da looked after him, a bit surprised, if for different reasons. Da wondered why he had spoken so curtly to his lord and best friend, while Ce wondered why his best friend was so possessive of this girl he had only just met yesterday. They realized a moment later, however, that whatever the reason for Zhou's odd behavior they really _should _go get the healer to have him look at Li. They stood up and ran side by side back to the Qiao residence to fetch the healer.

She woke up blearily to a painful jolting, and realized when she opened her eyes that she was, for the second time today, in Zhou Yu's arms. "Please," she whispered.

He looked down at her, surprised. "What is it?" he asked.

"Hurts," she mumbled, and then she was out again.

He smoothed out his stride, chagrined. He really had to learn to be gentle. She wasn't a piece of luggage, to be roughly handled. He cradled her closer to him as he re-entered his tent, unwilling to put her down, but tenderly laid her down on his bedroll anyway. He remained on his knees next to her, studying her for any sign of change. She was at least breathing normally, so he thought she was merely deeply asleep. It had been a traumatic morning, and he wasn't at all surprised that it had just caught up to her all of a sudden–though he had thought that maybe she could have at least gotten as far as her own bed before passing out.

He brushed a few strands of hair off of her forehead, and wondered if the healer was coming yet, or if Ce and Qiao Da had remained dumbstruck around each other and hadn't gotten around to finding the man–or woman. Sighing, he realized that that was an unworthy thought. Qiao Da was very concerned for her friend, and she seemed a sensible enough girl from what little he had seen. Her sister, though...now there was a prime example of the immature and very overly-excitable girl that Zhou found difficulty being in the same room with for long. She would have to grow up eventually, but it probably wouldn't happen until she was married.

_I wonder if Sun Jian plans on marrying Quan to her in a few years? _he mused, and the thought of the dutiful, serious son of Sun married to the immature Xiao made him smile.

He was still smiling when a plump woman with a bag burst into his tent and shooed him out. He was standing outside with Ce and Qiao Da before he even realized what had happened. He looked at the smiling faces of his best friend and Qiao Da, bemused. "I suppose that's the healer?"

Their grins widened as they nodded.

"I thought so," Zhou said with a sigh, then noticed the linked hands of the couple. Rolling his eyes, he re-entered his tent.

"Who bandaged her up?" the woman asked sharply.

"I did," he replied, and she looked around at him.

"Didn't I kick you out of here?"

"Yes, but as this is my tent, she my pupil, and myself the one responsible for bandaging her up as well as I could, I thought I'd come back in."

She grunted and turned back to Li. "You're going to make it more difficult to do this, you know," she said, irritation plain in her voice. "I was going to remove her shirt, but with you in here I can't very well do that, can I? Well, if you insist on being in here, you're going to help. Lift her up so I can lift the shirt up to her ribs and examine her. What's the extent of damage?"

"She has a relatively deep gash in her side from which she lost a good amount of blood, and a shallow slice across her back, as well as several puncture wounds. Those should be gone by the end of tomorrow, I figure, and the slice on her back will be but a memory and perhaps a faint line by the end of the week," he replied as he gently put an arm beneath her neck and lifted her into a more or less sitting position.

The healer grunted once more, this time with a distinct tone of disbelief at his prognosis. When she removed the bandages from Li's side and examined the damage herself, however, he knew by the pursing of her lips that he had been right. "The side wound is going to have to be stitched. Ordinarily I wouldn't do this, mind you, but I know this girl–she won't sit still long enough for it to close on its own." As she spoke, she rummaged around in her bag and pulled out a curved needle and some tough thread. "She's only sleeping right now, so the pain of this is going to wake her up. I need you to hold her so she can't struggle too much, do you think you can handle that?"

Zhou nodded, and pulled the girl across his lap, pinning one arm against his chest and holding the other up away from the wound, watching her peaceful face. To Li's credit, when the needle pierced her skin she didn't jerk, or cry out. Her eyes merely opened wide and her body stiffened.

"Shh, Li, the healer is here. She's stitching your side," he murmured. Her body relaxed somewhat, but he could see that every time the needle penetrated her skin her lips tightened over what he was sure would have been a cry of pain. She was tough, this girl, and he couldn't help admiring her immensely. _This is someone I could love! _he thought to himself, and then wondered where the thought came from.

He was still wondering when the healer finished stitching Li's side and commanded him to let Li sit on her own so the healer could place a bandage on it in case it bled again. "You, young lady, are to do nothing more strenuous than ride a horse at a sedate pace–that means _no weapons training, _do you understand me?" the healer was saying. "And by 'sedate pace' I mean that horse better be walking! No trotting, no cantering, no galloping. These stitches can't hold against a lot of pressure, and you need to let yourself heal! As it is, I only stitched you up so you _could _ride a horse when you leave for the city tomorrow, so I don't want to hear that you opened yourself up again when you get to the city. Don't forget to clean this _every _day for two weeks, and then go to someone to get the stitches removed.

"Now, you need sleep, and from the look on your face you won't make it all the way to your room, so I'm ordering you to stay right here and sleep yourself out. Our general of Wu here will just need to find a different place to sleep tonight, not that he should have any difficulty the way the serving girls have been sighing since he got here." With that, the blustery woman picked up her things and was gone, leaving a stunned Zhou Yu in her wake.

Li smiled at the look on his face, herself accustomed to the rough mannerisms of the healer.

"Well, she was certainly...efficient..." he said, and Li's tired smile widened.

"Zhou?" Ce said, poking his head inside the tent. "The healer told us her orders...so Da and I are going to go on a short walk. Do you want to join us?"

"No," he replied. "I'm sure you two will do just fine without my presence." Zhou grinned slyly at Ce, whose face flushed before he left.

"They'll make a good couple," Li said, her voice soft, fatigue showing plainly in her eyes.

"You should sleep, Mai Li," Zhou said with concern.

She smiled up at him. "You know when you asked me what I knew about you now?" she asked, yawning.

He nodded. "Yes?"

"You're very caring...and gentle..." she said, and fell asleep.

He smiled down at her, a warm feeling filling him to bursting. He kissed her forehead gently, covered her up with his blanket, and reluctantly left her to sleep in peace.

* * *

Alrighty, another chapter finished! This story is going so well, I'm pleased. I've removed what I had posted of "Zhou's First Love" because I'm going to have to change parts of it now.

Winds: Yeah, I know what you mean, I was dying to have him kiss her right there, but like you said–they haven't known each other long. The romance will come, however, never fear! A romance of the like you've never seen, it shall be!

Ok, so maybe not "like you've never seen," but it'll be very romantical nonetheless.

Thanks for your reviews, I very much appreciate them, and I'm so glad you like the story!


	8. Chapter Eight

**Chapter Eight:**

Mai Li awoke to the sound of many men shouting and running around. She was puzzled, she shouldn't have been able to hear these things from the Qiao sisters' rooms. Come to think of it, she didn't recognize her surroundings. She seemed to be in a tent...full of mannish things...

Memory hit her with full force, then, and if she hadn't been laying flat on her back in the first place, she would have wound up back there anyway. Yesterday had been a long day, in spite of the fact that she only remembered being awake until before noon. And speaking of noon...she hadn't had a meal since supper the day she had first met Zhou! Her stomach grumbled loudly at her mere thought of food, so she sat up and stretched, wincing at the pain in her overtaxed muscles.

She smiled softly and sat still for a moment when she realized that she was still wearing his shirt. He had seemed so concerned for her, as if she mattered to him and he didn't want her to be in pain. When he had asked if she had really thought him so cruel, she hadn't missed the hurt expression on his face that he had quickly masked.

Hadn't he also...? She touched her forehead, seeming to remember a pair of lips tenderly coming to rest on it for a moment as she had been carried away by sleep. She sighed happily and fell onto her back on the bedroll–flinching because _that _stung–and remembered how strong his arms had been around her without crushing her, how careful he had been not to hurt her, and how gently he had held her when the madwoman of a healer stitched up her side.

Her musings were interrupted by the smell of something delicious–was that...pork buns? Her stomach protested loudly that it was _still _empty, so she made to get up, only to see Zhou Yu enter the tent with a large plate of six steaming hot pork buns, a pot of tea in the center of them.

Seeing her, he smiled. "I thought you'd be awake about now. The noise of taking down camp could wake the dead, and the way you were sleeping you weren't far from it." He set the plate down on a little table and rummaged around for two cups.

While he looked, she crawled out of bed stiffly to sit next to the table, the pork buns making her mouth water. The only thing that kept her from snatching one and shoving half of it in her mouth was the knowledge that they were far too hot.

He found the cups, and poured tea into one, handing it to her with a flourish. "Your tea, Lady," he said, and when she took it from him, he poured himself some and sat down across from her. "I thought you'd be absolutely starving, since you missed a full day of meals," he said, and when her stomach growled loudly in response he choked down a laugh. She sipped at her tea to hide the flush spreading across her cheeks.

To take her mind off of the pork buns that smelled so heavenly, she asked, "So why is it that the greatest general of Wu doesn't have a bigger tent?"

He snorted–something that surprised her immensely–and said, "Greatest general of Wu? Oh come now. Really, though, I didn't need a bigger tent. I hadn't planned on spending much time in it anyway," he replied.

"Where did you sleep last night, anyway?" she asked, suddenly remembering a comment the healer had made.

"In Ce's tent. We always have a few extra bedrolls, so it was no big deal. His tent, as the heir to the kingdom, is considerably larger than mine, so it was more spacious, too. I think these should be cool enough now," he said, touching one and picking it up.

She picked one up herself, and, finding that it was still warm but not too hot, she ate the whole thing in three bites, and did the same with the next while Zhou watched with amusement.

"By the way," he said, "your father came with your clothes and things yesterday while you were out." She stopped cold, a bite that she had been in the middle of chewing still in her mouth. "Oh, we didn't tell him exactly what had happened–from what Qiao Da said, he doesn't approve of girls with swords, so we steered him away from that. We didn't tell him about those idiots–who are now in a chain gang–and what they did to you. We just told him that you'd slipped and fell, hitting your head, and that you were unconscious and the healer had left orders that you not be disturbed."

She breathed a sigh of relief and resumed chewing.

"He also said that you're to ride his horse to the city when we leave–which will be right after the noon meal–and that you have his blessing."

"Thank you," she said wholeheartedly when she had swallowed.

"You're very welcome," he replied, an unreadable expression in his intense eyes as he looked at her. He broke the gaze, however, and stood up, saying, "I brought the bag with your clothes in it in here if you'd like to change after you've finished eating, and some hot water should be in here soon to wash your stitches with. I'll be leaving you to finish eating in peace...unless you'd like some help with washing your side...?" he said, almost–_almost_–sounding hopeful.

She really didn't want him to leave, either, so she said, "Yes, I think I will need some help with that...thank you, Zhou Yu," she said, bowing her head.

Mai Li invited him to share the rest of the pork buns with her, and they finished breakfast in silence, each avoiding the other's gaze.

When a soldier delivered the bucket of hot water, she stood up uneasily, unsure of this. It hadn't been a problem yesterday, but yesterday she had been in trouble. Seeming to sense her unease, he put his hands on her shoulders and guided her over to the bedroll, making her sit on it. He then picked up the bucket and set it next to the bedroll, and picked up a cloth and dipped it in the water.

"It would be my honor," he said with mock seriousness, "to clean the wounds of the Brave Lady Mai Li." She laughed, and the tension was broken. He smiled as well, and she lifted the shirt so he could unwrap the bandage.

He cleaned it gently, only making her flinch once or twice, and he even did the slice across her back, too, lifting the back of the shirt up so he could get it all. He put the cloth down when he was done, but didn't pull the shirt back down. He traced around the wound on her back softly with his fingers, and she shivered, which fascinated him. He placed his hands on her shoulder blades, sliding them up to caress her shoulders under the cloth of the shirt, moving closer to her without realizing it.

She was still trembling when his chest touched her back, but for a different reason than when she had first shivered. Then, it had tickled. Now...now she was tingling with a sensation she only seemed to feel when she was near him. It was intoxicating. What was he doing? More importantly, did she really mind that he was doing it? It was difficult to keep thoughts from shattering when his breath was caressing her ear, his hands gently massaging her shoulders, making her want to melt.

He removed one of his hands from her shoulders to brush the hair back from her neck, intending only to do so because it was tickling his cheek, but he found his lips pressed to the soft expanse of skin, and once they were there, he couldn't bring himself to stop.

When he brushed her hair back and she felt his warm, surprisingly soft lips on her neck, she felt herself swoon. He kept her upright by snaking one arm around her waist, the other hand on her shoulder as he kept kissing her.

"Zhou?" a voice said faintly, then again, "Zhou?"

His first inclination was to ignore it, but slowly reason crept past the haze and he realized it was Sun Ce. In his shock, he let go of Mai Li, who promptly fell onto her side (thankfully, the uninjured one). _Damn it, _one part of his mind said, while the other one asked, puzzled, _Why was I doing that?_

* * *

ACK! _-Beats back the smut fairy-_ Back, you fiend! Back! None of that! I'm writing this story WITHOUT your help, thank you! -.-'

Sorry about that...the smut fairy tends to pop up when I least want her to...I'm trying my best not to give in!

Anyway, yeah, "Zhou's First Love" probably won't be called that when I get to it, but we'll see. Lol.


	9. Chapter Nine

**Chapter Nine:**

"Zhou?" Li asked, looking a bit out of it.

"I'm sorry, Li," he said. "I'm so very sorry." He tugged her shirt down so that none of her skin was bared and helped her sit up.

"What are you sorry for?" she asked, blinking up at him in confusion.

"I did not mean to do...what I did," he replied, and picked up the cloth he had cleaned her with, dropping it in the bucket of water and trying to block out the image of bathing more than her side and back. It was hard.

"Zhou?" Ce said, and poked his head inside the tent flap. "Zhou, we need to get your tent packed if we're going to leave on time..." He trailed off as he saw Mai Li. "Hello, Mai Li, are you feeling any better after your long sleep?"

"Yes, Lord Sun Ce," she replied bowing her head.

"No need for formality," he replied laughingly. "Just call me Ce. Did Zhou tell you that your father was here yesterday?"

"Yes, Lord–I mean, Ce."

"Good, then you know that you're all clear to come with us. We'll be leaving in two hours, you'd better get whatever you need to do done." He paused. "Is...something wrong?" he asked, looking back and forth between the two.

"Nothing, Ce," Zhou replied.

"Whatever you say," he said, disbelief tinging his tone. With a shrug, he left.

Zhou turned around to look at Li, who was now standing up. "I guess we've been in here longer than we thought," she said, smiling at him with a hint of red creeping to her cheeks.

He felt an answering warmth flood his own cheeks, and couldn't help but think about it. Once more he had to try hard to push images of them twined together...

He smacked himself on the head to stop that line of thought.

"Zhou! Are you alright?" Li exclaimed, stepping close to him and brushing his hair aside to look at the red mark he had brought into being on his forehead.

"I'm fine," he said, and forced himself to step back. "You should probably go and get ready." He felt a pang at the expression of surprise and then hurt on her face. He hadn't meant to be so cool with her, but he didn't know how to take it back.

"I'll just do that, then," she said, and picked up the bag he had told her had her clothes in it before walking out. She was gone so fast that when he moved to stop her it was too late. Sighing, he rolled up his bedroll tightly and started to get everything ready to be packed.

* * *

"Li! How was your sleep?" Da asked when Li returned to the room. Her friend didn't reply, simply opened the bag she was carrying, pulled out a pair of loose-fitting pants and a shirt, and proceeded to get changed. "Li?" Da asked after a few minutes of silence had passed. "Li, what's wrong?"

Mai Li sat down, staring at the borrowed shirt in her hands. "It's nothing, Da," she replied, sounding resigned. "It's absolutely nothing."

* * *

The caravan wasn't quite ready to leave at noon, but it was damn close. Ce was bellowing orders, telling the men to get in line. They'd be traveling until a little after dark to reach their first camp site now.

Li mounted her father's horse while Da said her goodbyes to her father and sister. It was arranged that the two women wouldn't have to ride in the carriage until they were an hour out of the city, much to Li's relief. She needed the fresh air about her, not the confines of a bumpy and uncomfortable carriage. This three-day trip would do her good, she thought.

So far she had been successful in her quest to avoid Zhou Yu, but she feared that her luck wouldn't last much longer. She had to ride with Da, and Da was going to be riding alongside Ce, who would no doubt have his best friend Zhou Yu riding with him.

Her emotions were in a turmoil since she had left him that morning. One minute he had been kissing her neck, the next he had been apologizing, and then he had gotten all frosty. She wasn't sure whether she hated him, loved him, or wanted him for more carnal reasons. Half of her dreaded returning his shirt to him while the other half rejoiced at the excuse to be near him again. She wished her feelings would make up their mind about the general of Wu. She wished he would make up his mind about _her. _He was just so contradictory!

When everything and everyone was finally ready, they moved out. Li rode slightly behind Da and Ce, who were talking animatedly to one another. Zhou was nowhere in sight, and she felt inexplicably lonely and depressed because of it. She was wondering at these emotions when he galloped up on his horse, said something to Ce, and then fell back to ride beside her. She thought she would have been happy, but the hurt from that morning came back, making her even more miserable.

They rode in silence for some time, then he sidled his horse closer so that their legs almost touched each other and said, "Li...I'm sorry for the way I behaved this morning."

"What part are you sorry for?" she asked tartly, more irritated at the way her heart leapt than at him.

"All of it," he replied. "I don't know what came over me to do...what I did without even a thought to whether you wanted it or not, but I'm even more sorry for the way I treated you when Ce left. I was confused, and I didn't mean to hurt you."

When she didn't reply, he put a leaned over and put a hand on her knee. She looked at him somewhat in surprise.

"Really," he said, his eyes boring into her, "I didn't mean to hurt you. That's the last thing I would want to do."

His sincerity touched her, making her anger melt away. She smiled at him. "It's alright," she replied. "I'm sorry for not being more understanding."

He smiled back, and by unspoken accord they dropped the subject. The afternoon and early evening was spent in the asking and answering of questions they had for each other, and by the time they stopped to make camp they had come to understand each other much better.

Camp setup went smoothly, and everyone ate a light supper before retiring. Da and Li, lacking tents, were to sleep in the carriage.

It wasn't until she laid her head down in the carriage that she realized that she still hadn't given Zhou his shirt back.

* * *

Yippee, another chapter finished! It's come to my attention that I have to finish this story before the 19th...gah! We're going home for spring break, and I won't be able to write while we're gone, so I won't be back until the 28th. I'll do my best to finish this story before leaving, though, a couple of two-chapter days should do it!

Anyway, what do you think of the smut fairy being involved (just a little bit!) in this story? She's persistently bugging me, and it's getting harder and harder to resist her...so let me know!


	10. Chapter Ten

**Chapter Ten:**

_She was back in Zhou's tent, his hands caressing her shoulders and his lips on her neck once more. He was incredibly warm against her back, and she leaned into him to soak it up. When he moved away from her, the shock of his warm lips and body leaving her made her fall on her side. She cried out in denial, and was stopped by the heat of his mouth on her own as he had followed her down. One of his hands pushed her onto her back–which, surprisingly, didn't hurt–and he positioned himself over her, braced on his elbows so he wouldn't crush her. He pulled his lips from hers and looked down at her, his face framed by the curtain of dark hair that fell around them to mingle with hers, his eyes smoldering with desire._

"_Who are you?" he asked huskily. _

_When she simply stared at him, unable to speak, he asked again, "Who are you? Who are you to make me feel this way?" His lips fell once more to her mouth, which she eagerly opened to his questing tongue. A moment later he wrenched his mouth from hers again, breathing heavily. She whimpered softly, moving under him. "Why_ _am I so drawn to you? No other woman has ever made me feel so...and yet here you are, and I only laid eyes on you the first time two days ago." _

"_Please..." she whispered, barely knowing she spoke. She was fevered with desire for this man and couldn't think past the heat of his long, lean frame covering her from head to toe. _

"_Gods," he whispered. "I don't care any more." With that, he covered her mouth with his once more_...

_...She was wrenched away from the pleasant scene in the tent suddenly and forced into a far less pleasing surrounding. She held a sword in her hands, both it and her body splattered with blood. The blood seemed to be everywhere, and among the bodies men fought and died. She easily dispatched a man that came rushing at her with a quick thrust of the already bloodied blade, hardly noticing in the intense need to find Zhou. _

_He was in trouble, she could feel it in her bones, and she frantically looked about her as she jogged through the battle, dodging dead bodies and sticking her blade between the occasional enemy's shoulder blades where needed. _

_As she progressed through the field, the fighting got thicker and it became more difficult for her to move. Where normally the carnage would have sickened her, all she could think of was that she needed to reach Zhou's side. _

_Suddenly, impossibly, she saw him. He stood alone, and just as she started running towards him, he saw her and stood motionless. She saw just over his shoulder a horseman riding for Zhou, sword held high. The man was covered with blood, and it didn't appear that much of it was his own, from the reddened length of his blade. She shouted to Zhou to be on his guard and look behind him, but knew with a sickening feeling that he wouldn't be able to react quickly enough, and it was all her fault. _

_She had to do something, would have thrown a couple of her many daggers if she hadn't lost them some time ago. She shifted her grip on her sword's handle, still running, and flung it with all her might–fervently uttering a prayer to all the good gods that it flew true–at the man on the horse, screaming at the top of her lungs as he was even now lifting his own blade to strike Zhou down. She watched the blade spin through the air towards its target, and time slowed down to a crawl. The man on the horse hesitated, hearing her scream and looking straight at her. _

_Zhou's head turned to her in surprise as well, and inexplicably his eyes widened in fear. He lifted a hand as if to ward off whatever it was, his eyes holding the gut-wrenching knowledge of helplessness. _

_Time resumed its normal speed once more, and she saw her sword enter the breast of the man on the horse and drive through him like a nail driven into wood by a hammer, forcing him off the horse. The man had a surprised look on his face as he fell from the saddle, dead before he hit the ground. _

_Zhou didn't spare him a second glance, instead running towards her, shouting frantically. She turned to see what it was that he saw..._

and woke up gasping for air, horrible fear gripping her body tightly in its talons. She looked wildly about the dark carriage, trying to get her bearings and convince herself that she wasn't on a battlefield of any sort. Reassured of this fact, she relaxed back onto the bedroll, still breathing heavily and wide awake. Knowing well that she wouldn't be returning to sleep this night, she silently stood up and stepped outside the carriage without waking Da.

* * *

He laid awake, disturbed by his dreams. The first one had been immensely enjoyable, but he had been torn away from it and plunged into a dreadful battle. He had a terrible sense of foreboding, much like what he had felt when he had seen Mai Li motionless on the ground after fainting, only this was far stronger, gripping him tightly by the heart. The dream had a horrible sense of premonition, and he fervently hoped that it would not come to pass. It had been awful, seeing Mai Li almost struck down by a son of Wei. It mattered not that she had saved him from the same fate, but he hadn't been able to do the same for her.

He wasn't sure what he would have done if he hadn't woken up just before the blade entered her body, and every time he thought about it, tears and grief threatened to overcome him. Irritated and depressed, he stood up and lit a candle, by which light he proceeded to get dressed and pack up his bedroll.

* * *

It wasn't even false dawn yet, and she could tell by the moon's progress through the sky that it would be a couple more hours before light hit the eastern horizon. Too restless to sit down, she paced back and forth in front of the carriage for a time, feeling like a caged animal. Finally, she decided to walk through the camp.

She was only stopped once, and that because she had nearly blundered right into the area where the prisoners were sleeping. The guard that had been set to watch them bowed and asked after her health before seeing her away from the area. The rest of the guards on watch must have been set around the perimeter of the camp, which, as she thought of it, made perfect sense. When she came upon a lighted tent, she immediately recognized it as Zhou Yu's, and wondered what he was doing awake at this time of night. Perhaps he had shared her dreams...? _No, _she thought, feeling foolish.

Suddenly she felt a crushing loneliness come over her as she watched his shadowed form through the cloth of his tent. He was just sitting there...perhaps he wouldn't mind some company?

* * *

A light scratching on his tent flap brought him out of his reverie, and immediately said, "Come in," softly. He drew a sharp breath when he saw that it was Mai Li, and she looked as shaken and restless as he himself was. _Impossible, we couldn't have shared those dreams, could we have? _he wondered in surprise, and then flushed as he recalled what the first dream had entailed. _Nonsense, who is to say that she feels anything for you as you do for her? _He was struck with wonder that she had such power over his emotions.

Belatedly, he realized that he was staring dumbly at her as she stood just inside the entrance of his tent, looking immensely uncomfortable. "Sit down," he said, moving over on his rolled up bedroll so she could sit next to him on it. "What has you awake at such an early hour?" he asked.

"It's nothing," she said quickly–too quickly–as she sat down, not looking at him. "Just a dream, and I foolish enough to have let it disturb me. Why are _you _awake?" Now she did look at him, her eyes boring into him, seeming to ask, _Did you dream it too? _

He shook off another wave of impending doom, and replied, "Dreams disturbed my slumber as well. I thought since I was awake, I might as well get my things packed early. Camp is supposed to be completely struck by true dawn, so everyone will be up and moving within the hour."

She didn't reply, and was no longer looking at him, so they sat in silence for a few moments. He grew increasingly uncomfortable as the memories of the horrid dream faded and images from the first became ever more pressing in his mind. He glanced sideways at her, struck by the way her hair–down, for once–fell forward over one shoulder, the candlelight producing shadows that played over her flawless skin.

Suddenly she met his gaze. He drowned in the dark pools of her eyes, and nearly jumped out of his skin when he felt her fingers graze the bruise on his jaw. "It should be gone within a week," she said softly. "The swelling is down, only the discoloration remains." As if of its own will, her fingers moved up to brush a few strands of hair away from his face. "I'm sorry..." she said, her cheeks blossoming with color as she removed her hand and looked down at her lap.

Utterly charmed and with remembered desire still flooding his body, he lifted his own fingers to her face, tilting it up and towards him so she would look at him once more. His fingertips stroked her cheek gently, and he closed what little distance was between them and kissed her softly on her lips.

When he pulled away from her, he had to force himself to breathe, but found that air was slow to come when he looked at her face, mirroring his own desire. It was all he needed, and he leaned forward and kissed her again.

* * *

HAHAHAHA, I LIVE! Gods, guys, I'm SO sorry about the long gap between chapters! I hope you can forgive me! If it helps, the story is moving again, and I'll hopefully be posting fairly regularly again until it's finished--though I will warn you that from the 23rd to the 1st I won't be posting because I won't have access to a computer in that time period. Fear not, however, for I WILL have my trusty little writing journal, so I'll be able to jot down ideas while I'm gone.


	11. Chapter Eleven

**Chapter Eleven:**

Her fingers ran through his hair as his lips were locked on hers, their tongues in an increasingly frenzied battle of lust. They continued on in this fashion as the candle–low to begin with–sputtered and flickered out, plunging them into darkness.

It wasn't until he put a hand on either side of her waist and pulled her closer that she gasped in pain and he broke their contact.

"Li, I'm sorry..." he started.

"Not again," she interrupted. "Don't apologize for being indecorous again, please..."

He put a finger to her lips, stilling her. "I wasn't apologizing for being indecorous, Li," he said. "I was apologizing for hurting you–I had forgotten about your side."

"Oh," she said blankly, and they stared into each other's eyes for a time. Eventually, they came to the realization that they _could_ see each other–and there were the noises of the camp waking up.

"Zhou! You awake yet?" Ce suddenly shouted right outside the tent. Not even waiting for an answer, he ducked inside and stopped short when he saw Li sitting on the rolled up bedroll next to Zhou. "Am I, ah, interrupting?" he asked in a softer, disbelieving tone.

"No!" Zhou said, too quickly, then, regaining his composure, "No, you're not interrupting anything. Li couldn't sleep, and she wanted to know if I could clean her side for her again since I was awake as well."

Ce's eyes darted to the burned out candle and then to the space–or, rather, the lack thereof–between them. "You were going to do this in the dark?" he asked suspiciously, with a twinkle in his eye.

"Damn it, Ce, make yourself useful and get some warm water, would you?" Zhou said in exasperation, his cheeks noticeably darker in the half-light of dawn.

Grinning like a little boy, Ce ducked out of the tent before Zhou could throw anything at him, presumably going to get some water.

"He won't...spread this around, will he?" Li asked, worried. It was one thing to dress and use weapons like a man, but another thing entirely to be caught in one's tent in the bare light of dawn. She could be publicly shamed for this and branded a whore, bringing dishonor on her father and any children she should have–assuming she would be able to marry after such an event.

"Ce may act like a child, Li, but he can keep a secret. Don't worry about it. Even if he did mention it to anyone, he would say that I was merely checking your wound and cleaning it."

"What a ringing endorsement!" Ce said as he ducked back into the tent with a bucket of water in hand. "I might be offended if you weren't right! Anyway, Mai Li, you wouldn't have anything to worry about. You've got quite the following among the troops right now with how you dispatched Du and his friends. I've been getting questions from several of them asking after your well-being and sending their regards. Apparently Du and his gang have been a sore thumb in the company for quite some time."

"Really?" she asked, disbelieving and a bit uncomfortable.

"Yeah. Well, you two have fun," he said, winking conspiratorially at them both and was gone again.

"Alright, is he _always _like that?" she asked.

"What, can't sit still for two seconds?" Zhou asked wryly. "Yes, he's always like that."

"It will be interesting to see how his relationship with Da goes," she said thoughtfully, and they fell into a companionable silence, during which Zhou tenderly cleaned and re-bandaged her side.

* * *

Camp was struck quickly and efficiently–so much so, in fact, that they were ready to go a full two hours before the noon meal. Not one to waste time, Ce ordered the column to move out. Watching, Da and Li couldn't help but be impressed that in such a short time a confusion of horses, men, and canvas could turn into such an orderly column of mounted men–excepting the prisoners, who were to jog on a tether behind the horses until they could move no more–in such a short time. 

There was little time to wonder on this, however, as Ce ordered them to get in the front of the column between himself and Zhou Yu, where the four of them rode abreast of each other as they trotted along at a good pace.

The morning turned into afternoon, and they ate in the saddle to avoid having to stop and lose valuable daylight.

"If we can keep this pace and the weather holds," Ce was saying, "tonight we'll camp by a natural hot spring and you ladies can soak the long days of riding out of your bones." Though he aimed the comment at both Li and Da, his eyes rested solely on his fiancee.

"And then we'll be in the city the next day?" Da asked.

"By lunch time," Ce said promptly.

"That would be lovely," Da said quietly, lowering her eyes. Much to Li and Zhou's amusement, Ce was struck dumb for a few moments as he stared at her. He was obviously quite taken with his fiancée, and it seemed that Da was similarly attracted to him. All in all, it looked to be a good match, and Li couldn't be happier for her friend. In spite of the fact that Da was a dutiful daughter, she had always dreaded the inevitable wedding, for she knew that she wouldn't get to choose her own husband. It was a sad fact for women of the highborn families–and even for most of the lowborn ones. Husbands were chosen by parents and matchmakers, not by the girl herself, and she had to make the best of her parents' choice in the matter, hoping that she would come to love her husband.

Thankfully Da was one of the luckiest ones, and was well on her way to loving Sun Ce.

Li found herself wondering who was in control of her destiny now. Back home, it wouldn't have been long before her father had tried to find her a husband, probably with the aid of Qiao Xuan. Now, however, she was traveling to the capitol as companion to Da, far from the influence of her father or even Da's father, and wondered who would make _her _match.

Thinking about it for the first time, she realized that she did indeed want to be married to a man that she loved, and perhaps have children–as long as he allowed her leave to practice with her daggers and, now, the sword. But would she have to remain unwed because she was the companion to the heir's wife?

Good gods, would _Sun Jian himself _be in control of who, or if, she married?

Thinking about it, she was horrified. He could give her to anyone he wanted, and there wouldn't be a thing she could say about it, whereas back at home she may have had some small say in whom she wed.

Her mind was suddenly taken back to that morning, when Zhou had crushed his lips to hers as if he were drowning and she was the only way to stay afloat.

Sun Jian could very well marry her to Zhou Yu if he wished, and she thought that she wouldn't have the slightest objection to that. Then she sighed. No, Zhou Yu wouldn't be wed to some lowborn girl–he would marry one of the beautiful noble ladies at the court.

* * *

Zhou watched Li out of the corner of his eye, wondering what she was thinking about to cause her to frown so. Hopefully she wasn't wondering what would happen if word was spread that she was found in his tent that morning. He knew there was nothing to worry about, and even if there was he wouldn't allow dishonor to taint her name–he would take her immediately to wife to prevent just that from happening, and not merely because he was concerned for her welfare. He was falling hard for her, and knew it. 

No stranger to women–and their bodies–he knew that she was something else, that she could be the one for him, though they had only met her four days ago. He would do anything to make her happy, give her anything at all that she wanted, if only she would stay by his side. He had to wonder if he looked half as lovestruck as Ce whenever he looked at her. He had already made up his mind to put his petition to Sun Jian–in private–for her hand when they returned to the capitol. He wouldn't rush into the wedding, however. He would take his time, woo her, make sure that she loved him before proposing to her.

Of course, she could say no. She was essentially a free woman now. She could remain unwed if she wanted, saying that she wished to remain Da's servant, but he hoped with all his being that she would fall in love with him, given time.

If she didn't fall in love with him or if Sun Jian refused his suit, he wouldn't wed. That was all there was to it.

* * *

Alright, NOW I'm finally feeling it again! Sorry about the last chapter there, it wasn't the greatest. -sigh- Unfortunately that happens when you've left your story alone for, what, two months?

Winds: Hey, glad to see you're still interested, hope you're pleased with the way this is going! I wish I could say how long this will be, but it's difficult, there are so many things that need to happen! I'll probably change the title of this, because I really don't want to make this a series of stories. Hopefully it'll be upwards of 30 chapters, however.

PaperTriamgles: Thanks for reading, I'm so glad I finally have another reader! I'm glad you're liking the story, and I had thought that I'd quit too for a while there. So many things were going on at the time I started this that I guess the story got pushed to the bottom of my long to-do list. Things are relatively starting to cool off now, though, thank GOD!

Anyway, if either of you are interested in contacting me, I have my information in my profile now! If not, see you at the next chapter!


	12. Chapter Twelve

**Chapter Twelve:**

They did make it to the hot springs just before the sun dipped below the horizon. Ce wasn't exactly pleased with their timing–now they would have to set up camp in near-darkness–and they were only this late because two of the prisoners collapsed and had to be revived. Da and Mai Li helped set up wherever they were allowed to, but Zhou would keep showing up and insisting that Li not do whatever she was doing because of her side, or Ce would take over what Da had been doing. Eventually, the two women just sat down on a convenient stone and waited.

When finally camp setup was complete and Zhou and Ce stood before them once more, they each bowed and offered their arms. "Ladies," they said in unison. Grinning at each other briefly at the men's absurdity, Da took Ce's arm and Li took Zhou's. He smiled warmly down at her when she tucked her hand under his elbow and placed his other hand over it, making her catch her breath. Her thoughts from earlier in the day returned full force, images playing in her mind, and she had to force them from her mind. _Remember, you're just a lowborn girl, he'll be with someone of much higher birth–and beauty–than you, _she told herself. But that didn't mean she couldn't enjoy the thrills that went through her every time he touched her or looked at her, did it?

The men led them through the trees to a shaded little glade dotted with pools of water, steam rising off of them in the cool air of the evening. Flames burned atop spikes stuck in the ground around the perimeter of the pools, and next to the largest one lay several towels in a neatly folded pile as well as the two girls' travel packs of clothes and a couple cakes of soap.

Da clapped her hands over her mouth, her eyes wide as she made a muffled sound of delight at the sight while Ce stood next to her looking pleased with himself. Li's own eyes widened, her mouth dropping open in an "o" of surprise. She looked at Zhou, his eyes sparkling as his smile deepened. He squeezed her hand before removing it from his arm, bowed over it, and retreated a couple paces.

She missed his warmth immediately.

"Ladies, you need not fear anyone spying on you while you bathe, we have the most trustworthy men guarding the surrounding area and we ourselves will guard the pathway to this place," Zhou said formally, and then turned to walk away. When he realized Ce wasn't following, he sighed in exasperation, went and grabbed Ce's arm, and forcibly dragged him away.

Da and Li looked at each other with smiles on their faces, then quickly proceeded to disrobe and get into the steaming pools.

Li stepped into the largest one, selecting a comfortably positioned flat stone to sit on so the water came up to her neck, closing her eyes and sighing in pleasure at the hot water caressing her skin. It had been far too long since she had taken a long hot bath, and she planned on fully taking advantage of this one.

"So what's going on with you and Zhou Yu?" Da asked.

* * *

When the two men had gotten around the little bend in the path so that they couldn't see the girls through the foliage, they stopped and made themselves comfortable on the ground. They sat in companionable silence for some time, until Ce started to get twitchy.

"What is it?" Zhou asked without opening his eyes, his head leaning against the trunk of a tree.

"Tell me, Zhou, what's going on between you and Mai Li? Don't you dare–" he said with a warning glare–"try to tell me that you just clean her side for her and that you merely want to teach her to use a sword. I'm not going to fall for it."

Zhou sighed, bringing his hands to cover his face.

"I knew it!" Ce crowed, then lowered his voice. "You're completely gone on her, aren't you? I can't believe it, the frosty but handsome Zhou Yu has finally lost his heart to a woman. Shang is never going to let you live this down, you know, and Pops is going to be shocked. When are you going to propose?"

"Look, Ce," Zhou said, his face still covered, "I don't even know if she feels the same–I'm hardly going to propose any time soon. Besides, this is foolish, we've only known each other for a mere four days! Maybe I'm just infatuated..."

"And the sun rises in the west and sets in the east," Ce said disbelievingly. "You are so in love with her, I can see it every time you look at her–and if the way she looks at you is any indication, she feels the same way."

"Oh, you mean you _do _see things other than the lovely Qiao Da when she's around?" he asked, finally taking his hands away from his face to look at Ce, one eyebrow cocked. Much to his satisfaction, Ce blushed.

"At least I'm not always to be found with the object of my desires in my tent like _you _have been these past few days–and don't even pretend that you haven't kissed her, I know better."

Zhou was left without a comeback, so he stood and drew his sword, blatantly challenging Ce.

* * *

The unexpectedness of Da's question made Li slip off of her stone and completely under the water. She resurfaced, spluttering, and stared at Da.

"Well?" an unruffled Da asked.

"Me and...and _Zhou Yu?_ Nothing's going on between us!" she protested.

Da cocked an eyebrow. "Oh _really,_" she said. "How do you explain how much time you two spend together, then? Oh don't say that he cleans your side, I know full well that he does that, but what more does he do? You've come back from being with him glassy-eyed more than once, don't think I haven't noticed."

"I...we..." Li fumbled for words, so Da continued.

"And the way he looks at you! You two are in love, aren't you?"

"In love?" Li asked blankly, still standing and staring dumbfounded at Da, who then smiled at her.

"I knew it!" she said triumphantly. "Oh Li, I'm so happy for you! Do you think you'll marry him?"

Li sat down, staring at nothing, still trying to digest what Da had said. In love? With Zhou Yu? Impossible...right? She remembered the first time he had kissed her, on the side of her neck, how warm his lips and hands had been...then when he had kissed her lips just that morning...

"Li...? Li, are you alright?" Da asked, snapping her out of her reverie.

"Um, I'm fine," she murmured, blushing at her thoughts.

Da stared at her friend with a smile on her face, thinking, _She's lost her heart to him, and doesn't quite know what to think about it. _Her thoughts were interrupted, however, when Li asked, "So, how's Sun Ce?" Li laughed when color blossomed on Da's cheeks, seeming to have regained her composure.

The tension broken, Li and Da talked and laughed while they soaked in the hot water, eventually cleaning themselves as the night grew deeper.

Later, as they dressed, Li groaned suddenly. "I have to wear a cursed dress when we arrive tomorrow, don't I?" she asked in dismay.

Da laughed. "Maybe not. I've heard that the lady Sun–Lord Sun Ce's sister–is quite a tomboy and rarely wears dresses of any sort. We'll have to ask Lord Sun Ce and Zhou Yu."

"You know, you're going to marry him...why do you keep calling him Lord Sun Ce? He's asked even me to call him Ce," Li asked as they walked back towards the camp. Da's answer was forestalled, however, when they heard the clash of metal on metal coming from just around the bend. Wondering if they were under attack, the girls quietly peeked around the corner. When they saw who was fighting, they shook their heads, sharing a glance that clearly said, _"Men!"_

* * *

Zhou ducked under a wild swing from Ce's sword, and caught sight of the two women watching them. Li was watching with wry amusement, her hands on her hips, head tipped to the side, while Da's face registered resignation. When he came up again, he caught Ce's blade on his own and when their eyes met he tipped his head in the women's direction.

Ce spared a glance to look, looked back at Zhou, then looked back at the spectators, his face a mask of surprise and embarrassment. He and Zhou both sheathed their blades, looking sheepish.

"Some fine job you two are doing guarding the pathway," Li said sternly, the amusement twinkling in her eyes belying her words.

"Zhou started it!" Ce said defensively, earning him a backhanded slap in the gut from Zhou.

The girls laughed, and Da stepped up and took Ce's hand, leading him back towards the camp. Zhou had to grin at the immediate look of utter submissiveness that overtook his friend's face, and then he noticed that Li was walking behind the couple without him, and he hurried to catch up.


	13. Chapter Thirteen

**Chapter Thirteen:**

Da scrambled about the carriage, frantically going through clothes while Li watched patiently, braiding her hair.

"Li!" Da exclaimed. "Don't just sit there, help me!"

"Da, calm down. You're getting all worked up over nothing!"

"Nothing? Oh, right, nothing. I'm only going to meet my future father-in-law–who also happens to be the ruler of Wu–for the first time, and I have nothing suitable!"

Li finished braiding her hair, tied it off, and stood up and went to Da, placing her hands on her shoulders. "Da, Sun Ce told you that it was going to be an informal meeting of the family. Sun Jian himself will not be in formal wear. I believe I also heard him say that you could show up with only your fans to cover your nakedness and they would still adore you." Da blushed at that, a smile tugging at her lips, and Li smiled back, continuing: "I know you want to make a good first impression, so wear the red dress. You look very nice in red, and it's their color, so that will doubtlessly impress them."

Da took a deep breath. "You're right...you're right...I have nothing to worry about. Thank you, Li, I don't know what I'd do without you."

Li smiled, thinking how chaotic it would have been were Xiao here in her place. The carriage would have been considerably more strewn with random articles of clothing and there would have been a pair of sisters in the middle of a breakdown amidst it all.

"What about you?" Da asked, interrupting the amusing images playing in Li's mind.

"What about me?" she asked in turn, looking blankly at her friend who was now dressed and calmly re-packing her clothes.

"Are you going to wear that to meet the Sun family?"

"Ah...I had rather planned on it, yes..." Li looked down at her clothes, plain black leggings and a just as undecorated–if good quality–black tunic. Da sighed in exasperation.

"Ready to move out, ladies?" came Ce's voice from outside the carriage. Li had to grin at the soft smile that suffused Da's face at the sound of her fiance's voice. Da opened the curtain to look at him.

"We're ready my lord," she said demurely, and Ce smiled dazzlingly at her before heading up to the front of the line, shouting for the column to get moving. Li and Da sat down and braced themselves for the bumpy ride.

* * *

Ce rode at the front of the column alongside Zhou, a smile on his face. "I presume that Qiao Da is looking lovely today?" Zhou asked rhetorically.

Ce, oblivious, replied, "She's beautiful." Then, slyly, he added, "Mai Li's not looking bad, either, I'm surprised you didn't go and talk to her this morning." Zhou sighed heavily, and Ce looked at his friend seriously. "You know, you're going to have competition for her heart once we reach the city. Ning and Lu are going to fall in love with her the moment they set eyes on her, you have to know this. It's lucky they were out at sea on a long voyage when we left, but who knows how long you have until they return? You're going to have to tell her how you feel soon or risk losing her."

"I know that, Ce," Zhou said. "I'm going to speak to your father as soon as I can get a private word with him. If he allows it, I'll start courting her officially."

That was plainly all that Zhou was going to say about the matter, so Ce wisely dropped the subject. He still had his concerns, but a plan was beginning to form in his mind to speed the process up a bit.

* * *

The morning passed in discomfort for the women in the carriage, but both forgot the ache of all the jouncing around when they heard permission granted for them to enter the city. They rushed to the window, peeking around the sides of the curtain. There were people everywhere, mostly minding their own business, though there were a few gawkers at the column. Everyone they saw seemed to be smiling–it was obvious that life was good in the city and that the people loved their ruler. This eased some of the unnamed fear in both the girls' minds, and they grinned at each other in excitement.

The noisy hustle and bustle gradually eased off as they neared the palace, and houses got progressively larger.

Unfortunately, they couldn't see the walls of the palace unless they were to put their heads outside the window–and that was unseemly, so neither of them did it, though Li was tempted. The moment they entered the palace grounds, Li slipped her knives in the hidden boot-sheaths, and two daggers into her belt while Da looked on with some amusement.

"Going armed to meet the ruler of Wu?" she asked.

"Of course!"

They sat in tense silence after that for about fifteen minutes, when the carriage finally stopped.

* * *

When they finally reached the courtyard, Ce and Zhou handed their horses to the stableboys and walked to the carriage. All of the troops except those driving the carriage had departed just inside the palace walls, heading for the barracks.

Ce opened the carriage door, then, and gently lifted Da down to stand next to him. Zhou, instead of lifting Li bodily down, offered his hand, which she accepted with a smile and hopped down. He drank in the sight of Li in her all black form-fitting outfit, ornamented only by the gleam of the daggers at her waist. He wholeheartedly approved of her choice in clothing, and knew that the Sun family would as well–she was stating by way of her dress exactly what she was rather than trying to be someone she was not. Yes, the Sun family would appreciate the honesty.

When he heard the excited shout of Shang Xiang from the entrance of the palace, he realized that he was staring at Mai Li and offered his arm to try and cover his lapse. She took it, smiling nervously at him, and they walked towards the entrance behind Ce and Da as the rest of the Sun family came out.

Sun Jian emerged just before they reached Shang Xiang and Quan, and immediately went up to Ce and wrapped him in a hug while Da dropped to her knees in a bow. Li did the same just behind Da.

"Stand, both of you," Sun Jian ordered, and the women immediately obeyed. He then wrapped Da in an embrace and said, "Welcome to your new home, daughter." When he stepped up to of Mai Li, she tried her best not to drop to her knees once more in the presence of this intimidating man. "I had thought from reports that the Qiao sisters looked alike," he said questioningly.

"The Qiao sisters do indeed look alike, my lord," Mai Li replied.

"I had also heard that _both _of the Qiao sisters were very womanly in their manner of dress, and decorous enough not to bear weapons in the presence of their lord."

"Indeed they are, my lord," Li said, a hint of annoyance apparent in her tone, "and as you may have surmised, _my lord,_ I am not one of the Qiao sisters to look like one of them, dress like one of them, or be well-mannered like one of them."

Li and Sun Jian stared at one another for a moment, neither backing down, then he laughed. "Well said, young lady! What's your name?" When she answered, he hugged her and turned to Zhou. "Good choice, I'm glad you've finally decided to settle down. I couldn't have done better myself. Shang Xiang! Show the ladies to their rooms, please, then bring them to the family garden."

When the three women left, Sun Jian asked, "So, does she know how to use the weapons she so proudly bears?"

"She does, and very well," Zhou said wryly.

"You should ask him how he got the bruise on his jaw, Dad," Ce said with a sly grin. Sun Jian's brows rose and he looked questioningly at Zhou.

"She did it when I tested her," he said, his cheeks burning as he quickly told that story. "I've decided to teach her swordplay as soon as her side heals," he finished.

"Her side...?"

"Li Du and four of his companions came across her in her first lesson while I had stepped out," Zhou said, fury plain in his voice as he remembered the look on her face as she ran into him and then fainted. "Du poked her with the tip of his sword repeatedly, then slashed her side pretty deeply when she didn't respond to him. After doing that, she knocked him out with the flat of the sword she was holding, and then the other four advanced on her. She was trying to escape, but they cornered her. She broke loose and ran for the door, and when Ce and I entered the training hall, she ran right into me and promptly fainted." He fell silent as he fought to control the rage that consumed him at the memory.

"The five men are in custody, Dad, I had them taken to separate prison cells upon our arrival," Ce said when it became obvious that his friend wasn't going to say any more.

Sun Jian's face and voice were grave. "They will be severely punished for their actions and discharged from my army once I've spoken with Mai Li and heard her tell the story." When Zhou started to protest, he raised a hand and said, "I have to hear it firsthand, you know that, and you also know that I have to speak with the perpetrators of the crime."

Then he smiled. "But that can wait until tomorrow–now, we toast to both of your successes on the battlefield of love!"

"Um..." Zhou fumbled.

"What Zhou is trying to say," Ce stepped in, "is that Mai Li doesn't know that he's in love with her–she came along as Da's companion and it was by chance that Zhou came to fall in love with her. Oof!" he exclaimed as Zhou backhanded him across the gut again.

"Is this true?" Sun Jian asked, looking closely at Zhou.

"Yes, my lord," he replied, unable to look his best friend's father in the eye.

"Well, then, I suppose we'll only toast Ce's success. In the meantime, you have my blessing in your pursuit of Mai Li. You're lucky that Lu Xun and Gan Ning aren't expected to return for another three weeks at the least."

Zhou bowed to hide the relief he knew had to be plain on his face. "Thank you," he said, and the four–Sun Jian, Sun Ce, Sun Quan, and Zhou Yu–headed for the family garden.

* * *

Alright, I forgot to put this in the last chapter--but before anyone chews me out, yes, I know that Sun Ce uses tonfas in the game, but if you've ever watched the ending credits of Dynasty Warriors 4: Empires in a game in which you've got Zhou Yu and Sun Ce, you'll see them sparring and Ce will be using a sword. Besides, what nobleman ISN'T trained to use a sword?

Winds: Hey there again, thanks for the review! I really liked your story, and I forget if I mentioned this or not, but I was sad that it was kinda rushed at the end. I'd like to see a Ma Chao ending, and a Liu Bei ending, not to mention Lu Xun...and I want to know what, if anything, happens between Cao Mi Yi and Li Dian!


	14. Chapter Fourteen

**Chapter Fourteen:**

Sun Shang Xiang excused herself upon the trio's arrival at Da and Li's quarters, saying she had a couple of errands to run and that she'd be back soon to bring them to the family garden. For a moment, the two girls stared blankly at each other, then they burst into a helpless fit of giggling.

"Li..." Da choked out. "I cannot believe you said that to Lord Sun Jian!"

"And Shang Xiang! Did she even draw a breath the whole time she was leading us here?" Li asked, a wide grin on her face.

"I know it! I was very distinctly reminded of Xiao when she gets excited! I don't suppose you have any better idea of where we are than I do?" Da asked hopefully.

"I do, actually," Li replied. "The palace is actually set up in a pretty logical fashion. I'd draw it out for you if I knew offhand where there was some ink and paper..."

The girls split up and explored the large suite, each more delighted with everything they found. The room Shang Xiang had left them in was just the common area, apparently, and there was one door on each of the remaining three walls. Da took the left door, and Li took the right, deciding of unspoken accord to check the back door last.

When Li entered the room she had chosen to explore, she clapped her hands over her mouth in surprise. The room was _huge! _There was a bed big enough for five people on the far end of the room, a large desk and a chair on the wall closest to her, a large wardrobe on the same wall as the bed, and three cushy chairs next to a fireplace on the wall to her right. She went farther into the room, her hands still over her mouth as she marveled at the thick, luxuriant carpet beneath her feet. Eventually, her eyes came to rest upon a closed door–this one on the same wall as the door she entered the room through. Curious, she opened the door, and her eyes widened further. It was a private bathing room, and instead of a tall wooden or porcelain tub, the bathtub was sunk into the floor and looked as though it could fit ten people comfortably to soak.

Hearing a small sound, Li looked up to find Da standing on the opposite side of the room, the look of utter shock mirroring Li's. Apparently the room Da had explored had a door directly to the bathing room as well.

"Impressive, no?" Li asked when she could force words past her befuddlement. "You should really look at the other room, Da, it's...amazing."

"So is the one I just came from," Da replied, and the girls split up once more, each going to the room they hadn't yet seen.

The room Da had first explored was set up as the mirror image of the other one, except that the bed and desk were slightly smaller. Despite this, the room was still incredible, and Li stood rooted to the spot, her mind gone blank at this show of wealth and respect for their apparent importance.

"Great, isn't it?" a voice just behind her shoulder asked, and she jumped in startlement, landing facing the object of her fright, hands on the hilts of the daggers at her waist. When she saw that it was Shang Xiang, she took a deep breath and relaxed, allowing her hands to slide away from her weapons.

"It's amazing," Li replied, trying to still the rapid movement of her heart.

Shang Xiang smiled, and asked, "Where's Qiao Da? I came to take you both to the family garden now, the rest of the family's waiting."

"She's in the other bedroom, probably doing much the same thing I was–staring in shock," Li said wryly.

"Ahh," said Shang Xiang, "I hadn't gone in there yet. Better go get her then, wouldn't want the boys to get impatient!"

At that, the exuberant girl turned around and practically bounced out the bedroom door. Li had just made to follow her when she poked her head back in. "We especially wouldn't want Zhou to get impatient, would we?" she asked impishly, winking and disappearing again. Li froze. First Lord Sun Jian had assumed that she and Zhou were together, now his daughter. Didn't any of them know that she was a mere commoner?

Her heart ached at the thought of informing them, but there was just no way she was going to be able to lie to them–not to mention the fact that doing so could very well get her beheaded–but there was no harm in pretending for now...was there?

"Come on, Li!" called Shang Xiang, and she left the suite with the daughter of Wu and her friend Da.

* * *

Zhou was the first to see them enter, and fell silent. Ce, noticing his best friend's sudden quietude, looked to see what had captured his attention and fell silent as well. Sun Jian smiled when he saw what the two were so captivated with. He was well pleased with how obviously in love his son was with his betrothed, and even more surprised and pleased with the fact that Zhou seemed to have finally met the woman that was made for him.

He smiled wider, thinking of Mai Li. It had been a while since a common girl had had the guts to stand up to him. She reminded him of his last wife, who had had the nerve to tell him he was being an idiot. One difference, however, was that she hadn't trained with any weapons–she had been very much a lady (albeit one with a fiery streak in her, and she had tended to lash those she perceived as stupid quite verbally, no matter who they were), very petite, very delicate, and as common-blooded as they came. Her family had been poor farmers, and he had only chanced upon meeting her as he had been inspecting the countryside and nearly took a shortcut through their field.

She had charmed him with her temper, and he had come back a couple of weeks later to speak with her again. They fell in love, and he took her back to the palace with him to be married shortly thereafter. He had even given her family more land, several able-bodied workers, and a large house to please her. He sighed. If only she hadn't been quite so delicate...

He had lost her in childbed a year and a half into their marriage. Perhaps she would have survived if she hadn't gotten so sick merely a week before she went into labor. But it was no use thinking of the "ifs" now, it had happened, she was gone, and he didn't even have the daughter she had borne to remind him of her, as the infant had died shortly after his wife. Even now, fifteen years later, the loss of his wife and child ached deeply.

Yet, here was Mai Li, with such strong will and spirit that she could have rivaled his beloved wife. And she loved Zhou, his son's best friend and like another son to him. It was plain in her face as she looked at Zhou, then looked away, pain etched in her eyes. Seeing her was like salt poured on his wounds, but he felt drawn to her, felt the need to help her accomplish whatever she desired to make her happy.

He looked at Zhou, who was still staring at Mai Li, his longing naked on his face. Hmm, indeed he would have to do something about this. The urge to make them both happy welled up in him as strongly as if they were children of his own body, and he would do anything for his children.

* * *

I know, I know, I'm sorry it's been so long since I've posted. I'm not going to PROMISE that I'll keep posting regularly, but I'm sure going to try, and I will definitely be finishing this story, so even if I don't post in a month and a half, don't worry too much, because it WILL be written to the end!

What do you suppose Sun Jian is planning to do to get Zhou and Li together? Hmmmm...we shall have to see!

Winds: Now, remember, the wedding between Ce and Da is supposed to happen in a couple years. So there will be some more romantical happenings and such before the wedding, though they're kind of more in the background than Zhou and Li. I liked the rest of your story, are there going to be any more endings? I can't for the life of me remember if I reviewed those last chapters, but I did like them quite a bit!

Mrs. Sleeping Dragon: Thanks so much for the glowing review! I'm glad you like the story even though you're not a big Zhou Yu fan! Do have your friend read it too if you think she'd like it. ;) Not that I'm shamelessly advertising or anything, mind you. -Whistles innocently- Anyway, I've been getting tons of hits on this thing lately, so I guess it's somewhat popular (that, or someone has read it over and over again) now, though I wish more people would review and give me some feedback. I'm DYING to know what I'm doing wrong and what other people think!


	15. Chapter Fifteen

**Chapter Fifteen:**

A week passed, and slowly Da and Li became accustomed to palace life. Da claimed the bedroom with the larger bed reluctantly, mostly at Li's insistence that she would get lost in such a large bed. As it was, Li's was only marginally smaller–perhaps three people instead of five could comfortably sleep in it. Both girls delighted in the bathing room, and their wardrobes had significantly increased.

Much to Li's relief, most of the things included in her wardrobe were leggings of varying thickness for the weather, tunics, and shifts for practice. She even had two new pairs of boots! She did have a couple of dresses, much to her dismay, but she understood why she had to have them. If there were formal events in the Court, it would be too much to appear in men's clothing. Even Shang Xiang dressed ladylike in formal Court events. Not that there had been any yet, but apparently one was coming up in the next week to introduce Ce's fiancé formally.

Li didn't see much of Da during the day anymore. The most time she got to spend with her friend was at supper and later in the evening when they were alone in their suite. Ce usually showed up and whisked Da off for a tour or some such thing. Luckily, Zhou would come shortly after Ce had stolen Da away and take her to see whatever she was interested in.

Today, she visited the physician that lived in the palace, so he could examine her stitches once more. She had already been to see him once–the day after they had arrived–and had pronounced that her wound had damn near closed and she would be able to have the stitches removed in a few days. Though she could have found her way to the infirmary on her own, Zhou showed up to walk with her. Not that she minded, of course. This way, they could go and spar after the physician took the stitches out and said that she was up for heavy activity instead of having to wait for Zhou to go _find _the man and make sure she was telling the truth.

The first time she had gone to see the physician, he had pronounced her fit for light activity, so Zhou had begun teaching her the dance she had seen the morning she received the injury. Of course, this dance was involving her daggers rather than a sword, but it was invigorating and exhausting nonetheless. She had come to respect the amount of effort it took to make such slow, precise movements, and she had the satisfaction of seeing Zhou's pleasure at how quick a learner she was. She had the dance memorized, had even improved upon it, much to Zhou's surprise. Of course, he had conceded that the daggers were her expertise, not his, and she could probably teach him a thing or two about fighting with daggers.

She hadn't gotten as out of shape as she had thought, either. She had ceased being sore the third day of their practicing, and unbeknownst to her concerned teacher, she had been testing out swords and experimenting with some swings at the dummies. She had discovered that using a sword was much like using only one dagger, but with less flexibility. She knew that if Zhou knew what she was doing he would be upset, but she couldn't repress her eagerness any more, she wanted to _know. _

Li looked sideways at Zhou, always appreciative of his quiet grace, the way his hair fell across his shoulders. Over the past week, it had almost seemed like he had been courting her. He had been spending much of his time with her–walking with her, teaching her, escorting her back to her room after an evening spent conversing after supper. She was blissfully happy–until she remembered what she was and why she could undoubtedly never be his wife.

It was so hard to care, though! She had fallen for him, hard, and there was no turning back. If he didn't love her in return, then she didn't know how she would be able to pick up the broken pieces of her heart. She would probably quietly jump off a cliff, a thought which frightened her in how true it felt.

Her musings were interrupted when they reached the infirmary. Zhou smiled down at her encouragingly and pushed the door open.

"Ah, you're here! It's about time, you know, I _do _have other patients that need tending," said the wizened little man from his desk.

Li simply smiled at him. The old man was really very sweet, and she had liked him the moment she laid eyes on him.

"Come, child, sit down," he said, beckoning her to a pallet. She obeyed him and lifted her shirt to expose the stitches. "You should consider yourself fortunate, young Zhou, that I don't usher you out of here for indecency. The only reason you are allowed to stay is because she is in such good health largely due to your care of her." While he talked, he picked up a small pair of scissors and began snipping at the threads. Li flinched a little at the cold metal on her skin, but otherwise her facial expression did not change as she watched.

When he began to pull the threads out, it stung. Her skin had tried to close over them, and was literally being torn a bit with each tug.

"Hmmm, perhaps I should have had you come in a day or two sooner," the little man said, noticing her discomfort. "You heal at a faster rate than I had expected. Ah well, one more...and...finished!" He carefully cleaned her up, and pronounced her fit. "That's already stopped bleeding, and I highly doubt that anything you do will produce more than a couple of drops anyway, so you can begin seriously training again! Now, I really do have other work to do, so out, out, out!" He emphasized each "out" with little shooing motions, and wouldn't have any of Li's thanks, saying it was merely his job.

Once outside the infirmary, Li turned to Zhou and said, "I have a confession to make. I've been fiddling with swords, trying a couple swings out on the dummies."

He simply smiled, puzzling her. "I know," he explained. "I've been having you watched whenever you go to the practice rooms."

"You knew...? You're not angry?" she stuttered.

"Of course not, I expected something of the like. The healer the Qiao residence _did _warn me about you. Besides, you weren't doing any heavy work, so what was there to worry about?" He put a hand on the small of her back and gave her a gentle push towards the practice area–ironically not far from the infirmary. "Your form was actually very good once you figured out that a sword was simply a longer extension of a dagger."

"How did you know I'd figured that out?" she asked, still dumbfounded.

"Because before you had, you were very off-balance. Besides, I was watching you myself at the time you discovered it," he blushed deeply, "and the look of revelation on your face was all I needed. But today I don't want to work you with the sword, I want to spar with you using your daggers against my sword. Now that you know the moves of the dance, you should do even better than you did when you weren't prepared for my attack."

When they reached the practice room, she picked up her practice daggers and went to stand in the center of the large practice circle. He picked up his practice blade and joined her in the circle. They stood motionless, each waiting for the other to make the first move, when Zhou got impatient and attacked first.

The clanging of pot metal on pot metal filled the room as they traded blows and parries back and forth, each seeming to know the other's move before they made it. They were perfectly matched, and a pleasure to watch, each moving with fluid grace. Though they were sparring in earnest, as their straining muscles and the sweat beading on their skin attested, if one ignored those factors it looked as though they were practicing a well-choreographed dance.

Eventually, guards that had come in for a bit of practice began gathering around the outside of the circle to watch and wager on the outcome. They had seen enough of Shang Xiang's fighting to know that a woman could fight, but when she and Ce sparred there was none of the fluid grace of two people that knew each other's styles so thoroughly that they could predict each move long before it was made and counter it. While Shang Xiang was fairly talented, she was coltish and ungainly in her movements–where Li was immensely comfortable in her skin and confident that her weapons would go where they were supposed to be when they were supposed to be there. An hour passed, then two, and word spread that there was quite the sparring match going on in the practice room, bringing in more spectators.

Hearing of it himself, Sun Jian appeared, Quan in tow. The guards parted reluctantly to let the two royals stand at the front. After watching for a few moments, Sun Jian laid a sizeable wager on Mai Li, smiling the whole time. Quan laid his own wager on Zhou Yu, thinking that Li couldn't be any better than his sister, who lost nine bouts out of ten with their brother. Knowing Zhou's skill was incredible, he doubted that Mai Li could match up with him.

He regretted his wager as the match wore on for another hour. It seemed that either one of them could win at this point, and he could no longer deny the woman's skill. Sun Jian himself seemed rather pleased with what he was seeing. "It won't be long now," Sun Jian said.

Indeed, the two were beginning to tire, their movements slowing. The moment one of them missed a step, or raised their weapon too slow, the battle would be over. Still, it was another half hour before Mai Li finally scored on Zhou, ducking down and sweeping his feet from under him with her leg. She was on him in less than a heartbeat, her foot on his sword arm and her dagger at his throat, both of them breathing heavily, strands of hair stuck to their faces with sweat.

When the applause started, they both started and looked around, seeing the gathered crowd for the first time. Li blushed, lowering her head, plainly discomfited.

"Well done, Mai Li," Sun Jian said, "and thank you for winning me my wager! Very rarely have I seen a pair so well matched and perfect for each other." At that, Zhou blushed deeply, and Li looked up sharply. "For the excellent show, you get half of my winnings to do with as you please, Mai Li."

With that, he left, taking Quan with him. The other onlookers dispersed shortly thereafter, presumably to go and split up the winnings.

* * *

Alright, that was fun! What'd you all think? And seriously, I know you're out there reading this! Just click on the "submit review" button and type out a few words of what you think of the story, I would love to know what I'm doing well and what I'm doing badly, I take constructive criticism pretty well!


	16. Chapter Sixteen

**Chapter Sixteen:**

Li sat down abruptly, trying to breathe evenly and relax as her limbs trembled at the exertion she had put them through.

"Remind me..." Zhou gasped from the floor next to her, "why did I ask you to spar with me using those cursed daggers?"

"Beats me," she replied, then grinned down at him. "I think it has something to do with men having an inferiority complex. Deep down you know that women are are your equals or betters when it comes to cleverness, so you want to beat them at what they're best at in order to feel stronger." At Zhou's wordless protest, she gave in, and said, "If I hadn't succeeded in tripping you, you would've won shortly. I was getting too tired to keep going at it all out like that. Speaking of which, how long have we been in here?"

"From the way my stomach is complaining, too long. It's probably time for lunch," Zhou replied and stood up, offering her a hand. She took it, not being stupid enough to ignore him and try to get up on her own when she was in this state. As it was, she stood up too fast, and staggered with lightheadedness, making Zhou reach out and catch her in his arms so she wouldn't fall again.

The spell of dizziness passed, and she regained her breath, her forehead resting against his chest as she inhaled the scent of him. His arms felt so good around her, especially now that her sweat had cooled. She wanted so badly to wrap her arms around him, too, but feared that he would retreat from her. She lifted her head and looked up to meet his eyes, his gaze searing her. When his lips crushed down on hers, she was swept away in a tide of emotion. She twined her arms around his neck as his tightened around her like bands of steel, inescapable. Nothing mattered anymore except the here and now, how _right _it felt to be with him like this.

Reluctantly, he released her lips, his arms loosening. He really had to get control of himself. She sighed as he looked down at her face, her eyes still closed, her lips slightly parted and swollen from his kiss, and damn if he didn't have to kiss her again. He had only meant to kiss her quickly and pull back again, but he found his tongue sliding between her lips to meet hers and engage in another battle, one which had no winner or loser. Her body was like silk-clad steel, soft but hard, and at the moment yielding to him, molding to his shape.

As much as he wanted to lose himself completely in her, he knew that he _had _to get control over his body once more. She wasn't helping by stroking the nape of his neck beneath his hair. He wrenched his mouth from hers again, taking in a deep breath. "Li, we shouldn't..." he said softly. When she opened her eyes, he saw hurt in those deep black orbs, and quickly added, "It's not because I don't want to, Li, not at all...it's just that anyone could walk in and I would hate for you to have a black mark on your honor."

"Are we...interrupting something?" Ce asked, behind him.

Li smiled, undoubtedly at the irritated look he was sure had passed across his features. "Like him?" she whispered, her eyes twinkling. Zhou sighed deeply and nodded minutely, then released Li and turned to face his friend.

"Not at all, Ce, I was just helping Li. She nearly fell after getting up too fast."

Ce's eyes widened in absolute disbelief, and Da, standing next to him, raised an eyebrow at Li. Li nodded to Da, promising with the gesture to explain later. Da smiled and put a hand on Ce's arm, effectively distracting him from further questioning.

"We were told that you two were here in the practice room, so we came to see if you wanted to join us for lunch," Da said, polite as ever.

"I'd love to join you, but I'm afraid I need a bath rather terribly," Li said, looking forlornly at her sweaty, dirty clothes.

Da grinned. "After seeing you, I had somewhat hoped you'd say something of the sort–you're a mess, Li."

"Hazards of sparring," Li replied, grinning back at her friend.

"Some sparring..." Ce mumbled under his breath, and Da's elbow "accidentally" jabbed him in the side. He looked down at Da in shock, and she simply stared innocently up at him. He grinned, unable to be angry with her, and changed the subject. "Anyway, you two go get clean–preferably in separate baths–and then join us in the dining room, alright?" He grinned at the blushes that stole over Zhou and Li's cheeks, then took Da by the hand and led her out.

"May I?" Zhou asked, offering his arm to Li. She took it, and they left the practice room.

Though she insisted that it would be faster if he just let her walk back to the suite she shared with Da by herself, he stubbornly refused to leave her side until she was in the door. She smiled at his chivalrous attitude, and hurried into her bedroom. Quickly stripping out of her filthy clothes, she walked into the bathing room and turned the hot water spigot up all the way. It never failed to amaze her that there was running water inside the palace. There was, of course, a limited supply of hot water, but if she wanted to she could simply heat up a basin of cold water by the fireplace for a quick wash. When the tub was a quarter full, she turned off the hot water and turned on the cold water, and walked back into her room to pick out what she would wear this afternoon and evening.

Once decided, she went back into the bathroom and quickly turned off the cold water so the bath wouldn't be too cold. The only reason she turned the cold water on at all was because the hot water was boiling hot when it came out. She grabbed a cake of slightly sweet-scented soap and a cloth and stepped into the bathtub. She ducked her head under the water first and washed her long hair before she got the bathwater too dirty, then she proceeded to scrub at her skin until it was red.

Finally satisfied that she was clean, she drained the bathtub–another wonder of the palace!–and wrapped herself in a robe, walking back into her bedroom. A maid was just getting ready to take her filthy clothes when Li walked in, but put the clothes back into the hamper and quickly sat Li down on a stool and began brushing her hair with a fine horsehair brush. Li sighed. She _still _wasn't used to being waited on, and was just pleased that she had gotten into the bath before the maid had gotten to the suite. Ah well, the brushing felt good once the tangles were out, and she let herself enjoy it. The maid asked if she would like anything special done to her hair, but Li just smiled and shook her head. The woman took out a pair of obsidian hair sticks with a strand of beads hanging off of either one anyway and twisted Li's hair up onto the back of her head, leaving a couple strands to fall on either side of her face.

Li thanked the woman, then got up and looked over her choice of outfit. She reconsidered, and once she was dressed, she made her way to the smaller family dining room to meet Ce, Da, and most importantly, Zhou.

* * *

Alright, love it or hate it, PLEASE TELL ME! I would like to know what could be better, what you absolutely cannot STAND, etc. etc.!


	17. Chapter Seventeen

**WARNING, R RATING BECOMES APPARENT IN THIS CHAPTER!**

**Chapter Seventeen: **

He was laughing at Ce's recounting of how Quan had been rather upset to be out most of his allowance due to his wagering on Zhou in the sparring match when she came in. Ce, noting the sudden surcease of Zhou's laughter, looked questioningly at him. Seeing the lovelorn expression on his face, Ce could only surmise that Mai Li was here. Sun Ce turned to the door, and sure enough, there was Mai Li. Not that he could blame Zhou for appreciating the sight of her–she was stunning today.

Zhou, naturally, didn't even notice his best friend. He was too busy drinking in the sight of Mai Li. Her hair was twisted up with hair sticks that matched her hair and eyes, she was wearing a form-fitting, deep red longsleeve shirt that ended at her midriff; a black shift under that (which covered what was left of her belly); long black leggings with a tasseled wrap folded diagonally in half and tied around her hips; and slippers with a rather low heel. All in all, she looked amazing. Her clothes complemented her body perfectly, neither making her look too curvy or too straight, and all the black served to highlight the ebony of her hair and her deep black eyes.

He could tell she was slightly self-conscious, so he forcibly tore his gaze from her and looked to see that Ce was staring at her too, and Da was looking at her with a delighted smile on her face. When Zhou looked back at Ce, he saw Ce looking at him and felt a sharp kick at his shin under the table, making him exclaim in surprise and stand up abruptly, knocking his chair over in the process. It was almost like there was an audible _snap _as the tension vibrating from Mai Li was dissipated. She walked over and sat in the chair next to him while he fumbled to get his chair upright again, embarrassed but grateful to Ce.

"Great, so now that you're here, we can eat!" said an exuberant Sun Ce as he dug into the cold fare that had been laid out on the table. Remembering that he was famished as well, Zhou picked out a rather large portion of the cold meats and bread and, to his embarrassment, practically inhaled it, he was so hungry. He glanced out of the corner of his eye to see if Li had noticed, and was amused when he saw that she was doing practically the same thing. It was a couple hours later than they were accustomed to eating the midday meal, and they had more than earned it in their bout this morning.

By the time everyone was finished, the food was nearly gone to the last crumb.

The four then decided that they would go out and explore the city for the rest of the afternoon, and by the time they returned to the palace it was long after dark. Ce and Da said a quick goodbye at the door of the suite, but Zhou and Li lingered in the hallway. He reached out and stroked her cheek gently with his thumb. She leaned into his caress and placed her hand over his, closing her eyes in bliss. He had to resist the urge not to lean down and kiss her.

"I should go," he said softly, and took his hand from her face. He lifted one of her hands and kissed the inside of her wrist. "Good night, Li."

Then he walked away. Just before he passed out of sight, she whispered, "Good night..."

When Li entered the suite with a soft smile suffusing her face, Da couldn't help but grin happily. There was no way it could be any more perfect–herself engaged to Lord Sun Ce, and Li in love with his best friend, Zhou Yu. "So what were Lord Sun Ce and I interrupting this afternoon?" Da asked, and Li jumped a bit, as if just realizing her friend was there.

"Well...he kissed me," she said, after a long pause.

Da raised her eyebrows. "But this isn't the first time he's kissed you, is it?" she asked.

"Well, no," Li replied, blushing deeper. "But...this was different, somehow. I don't know, call me crazy, but it almost seems like he's been courting me, and oh, Da, I'm so in love with him!"

Da got up and hugged Li tight. "I'm so happy for you, Li! Maybe we can get married together!" For some reason, this made Li stiffen.

"Well, I think it's time we went to sleep...it's so late," Li said, yawning. Da frowned, but knew there was no way she was going to get anything else out of her friend this evening, so she let it go, and the girls both retired.

* * *

"_Li! Where did you come from?" he asked, striding across the ephemeral garden towards her._

"_I came to see you," she replied, smiling and holding out her hands to him. _

_He took both of her hands in his when he reached her, and kissed the inside of her wrist again, but instead of stopping with one kiss, he trailed kisses up her arm, eventually letting go of her other hand and pulling her closer to him by her waist as he reached her surprisingly bare shoulder. She was shocked when she realized that neither of them had a stitch of clothing on, but the surprise faded away as his lips found the hollow of her neck and trailed up her chin and finally to her own lips, which she opened eagerly to him. She put her hands in his hair, holding his face close to her, never wanting his mouth to leave hers._

_His hands were restless, now gripping her close to him, now wandering up and down her sides and across her back, making her sigh in pleasure at the sensations they caused in their passing. When his fingers trailed lightly across her ribs just below her breasts, she involuntarily took her mouth from his, tipping her head back, her fingers clenched in his hair as she gasped_ _at the shivers coursing through her body. He took the opportunity to kiss her neck again, this time nibbling and trailing his kisses lower. His mouth lingered on her collarbone and he gently lowered them both to the ground, with him on top of her but not pressing his weight upon her. _

_Once on the ground, his lips and tongue continued their trek down until they reached her breast, searing heat blazing the trail. When he reached the end, he took his mouth away from her body and hovered over a particularly sensitive spot, his breath tickling the area as he looked up at her. By now her breath was coming heavily, punctuated by soft whimpers. She looked back at him, begging him with her eyes not to stop, not now. His tongue then touched the tip of the hardened flesh, then he closed his mouth over it, making her moan. There was no longer a coherent thought in her mind, she couldn't think past the sensations he was causing in her. With his mouth on her breast, she hardly noticed his hand move down her torso and to her hip, then to the inside of her thighs to touch what lay there. _

_She felt as though she was going to break under the pressure that was increasing more rapidly than she thought she could handle. It seemed that he wasn't immune to it either, for his breathing was coming in shorter gasps, and occasionally he would moan deep in his throat as she moved against him. Finally, he removed his mouth from her breast, and his hand came to rest beside her. Instinctively she knew what was coming, and maneuvered under him so he had easier access. With a groan of surrender and one fluid movement, he joined with her. _

_It was like she had shattered into a million pieces in that instant, the only thing remaining firmly fixed was his eyes burning into hers..._

_...They stood together on a bloody battlefield, the dead and screaming, begging wounded lying all about. She felt heartsick, and could tell by the look in his eyes that he felt the same. But it was over. It was all over, now, they could live in peace once more. _

_Only she knew that she would never forget this scene, the many she had killed this day, and forever they would haunt her dreams. Some had been little more than children with weapons, and others had been the worst kind of killers–the ones that did it with no remorse for what they had done and what they would do in the future, the ones that killed for money, the ones that killed for the sheer pleasure of killing. She wasn't sure which was worse, the would-be men, or the heartless bastards._

_Suddenly, he shouted something–she couldn't hear him, but she could see the heart-rending terror in his eyes, and she turned to see what was happening a moment too late–there was burning pain..._

* * *

-Has the willies-


	18. Chapter Eighteen

**Chapter Eighteen:**

He sat stark upright in his bed trembling, his heart pounding in fear. He barely noticed when tears slid down his cheeks and fell on the blanket covering his legs. This was the second time he had had a dream involving Mai Li that felt so startlingly real–he could still remember the warmth and taste of her, could feel her skin on his...but then the dream had changed, become a battlefield. He had been standing with her, and then someone had risen up and stabbed her in the back, right through her heart. The first time, they had merely been together, it hadn't gone so far, but the scene afterwards had been just as dreadful.

He deeply feared what these dreams foretold, and even though the first dream was invariably wonderful, he hoped he would never have another one of the like. What was it that was said...first time means nothing, second time a coincidence, third time conspiracy? He laid back, breathing deeply and trying to let go the gripping fear. He jumped when a loud knock came on his door. _It can't be dawn yet..._was his only coherent thought.

"Zhou! Wake up! You have to go to Qiao Da and Mai Li's suite!" shouted Quan through the door.

"I'm coming!" he called back, and scrambled out of bed, hearing Quan running off. He paused only long enough to throw on a pair of loose breeches and to grab his sword, then he was off.

* * *

She startled awake, disquieted by her dreams. Before she had the chance to ponder the events of her dreams, however, she heard a sort of muffled scream from Da's room. Foreboding took hold of her, and she quickly and quietly got out of the bed. She took her daggers from the desk on her way out.

In the dark, she maneuvered her way around the common room quickly, glad they didn't have a habit of moving furniture around, and once she reached Da's door, she paused to listen. She heard scuffling sounds, and not wishing to hesitate any longer, she flung the door open. There were two dark-clad shapes holding a struggling Da in the moonwashed room. Not pausing to think about what she was doing, she rushed them, making them drop Da, who scooted herself as far away from them as she could get. One started to draw a short sword, but his partner grabbed his arm and dragged him towards the opened window.

The man that had started to draw apparently reconsidered his action and went willingly. Before she could get to them, they had slipped out the window and disappeared in the shadows.

"Damn it!" Li said, frustrated. Now they would never find out who they were. She ran from the room and out of the suite, then down the hall until she ran into a guard on duty. His eyes widened at how she was dressed–she hadn't bothered to put more clothes on, and she was dressed in a supportive undershift that didn't reach past her ribs and a pair of knee-length breeches–but she didn't care. "Someone just tried to kidnap Qiao Da, they're outside, they can't have gone too far yet–there are two of them, get out there and search for them!"

Her shouting called the attention of more guards, who came running. Hearing her message, they didn't stop to question her, but ran off, calling the alarm as they went.

Having done what she could, she hurried back to the suite and into Da's room. She lit a couple of the lamps in the room, then went to Da, who hadn't moved from the spot she had been left in. "Da, it's ok," Li said, and Da burst into tears. Li hugged her friend and let her cry.

It wasn't long before Ce came. "Da," he whispered raggedly, falling to his knees next to the two women. She looked at him, and he pulled her into his arms, rocking her back and forth and whispering comforting things to her. Li stood up and headed for her room, leaving the couple alone. She wasn't even halfway across the common room when her knees collapsed abruptly beneath her. The adrenaline that had kept her going was gone, she felt cold inside as she realized she could easily have been killed.

* * *

When he reached the suite, he saw her almost immediately sitting on the floor, unharmed. The fear drained out of him and he sagged against the doorway in relief. When she looked up at him, her eyes wide and her face colorless with shock, he noticed that she was trembling. He was by her side in an instant, and, dropping his sword, he picked her up off the floor and carried her into her bedroom.

He sat down on the edge of her bed and whispered soothing words to her as she clung to him. Eventually her trembling eased, but she didn't let go of him–which was fine by him, as he wasn't ready to let go of her. Having successfully calmed her down, he asked what had happened.

"I woke up from a really strange dream," she said, her voice steady, much to his relief. She looked up at him with an odd expression on her face, which made his heart skip. Had she had the same dream? "I thought I heard a cry from Da's room, so I went to see if she was ok, and grabbed my daggers in case she wasn't. When I got there, there were two men wearing dark clothes and masks carrying Da. She was struggling, so I ran at them. They dropped her, and one started to draw his weapon, but the other one grabbed his arm and they went out the open window. Then I went down the hall and found a couple of guards and told them to search for the two men, and came back. Ce showed up not too long after I got back, and has been with Da since." She paused. "I could have been killed," she said in a very small voice, and he hugged her tighter to him.

Sun Jian entered the room a few minutes later. "They were nowhere to be found," he said. "Mai Li, I need you to tell me what happened, will you please come into the common room?"

She nodded and they went into the now well-lit common room. Ce sat in one of the chairs with Da cradled in his lap. Zhou and Li sat next to each other on a couch and Sun Jian sat across from them in the remaining chair.

"Please, tell me what happened from the moment you opened Da's bedroom door," he said.

Li related what had happened once more up until the time she had returned to the room. Sun Jian then proceeded to ask her countless questions about things she had remembered and would never have thought about. By the time he had finished his interrogation, she was exhausted.

"Li," Sun Jian said, "for your brave, selfless actions tonight, you are hereby pronounced a full daughter of the Sun family, including the rank of princess along with my daughter Shang Xiang. I fully intend on so honoring you in full court as soon as there is time.

"However, I would ask you to do one more thing–this you can refuse, but I pray that you will not. I much doubt that whoever tried to kidnap Qiao Da tonight will stop because they failed this once. I wish to set up a trap for them, with you as the bait. You would be sleeping in Da's bedroom from here on out until they try again. Will you do this?"

"I will," Li said. "But will I be alone?"

"No, there will be someone under the bed to assist you so that you yourself do not get kidnaped."

"May I make a request as to who that person will be?"

"Of course," Sun Jian replied. "I wouldn't want to put anyone in there that you would be uncomfortable with."

"I choose Zhou Yu, then, please. There is no one I trust more."

"It is done, then," Sun Jian said, then stood up. "I understand that there will likely be no more sleep for any of us tonight, and I would hate for you two girls to be left alone. Ce, Zhou, will you stay with them?"

When the two men nodded, Sun Jian left. Ce carried Da back to her room, as the kidnapers wouldn't try again this night, and Li and Zhou retired to Li's room. When she closed the door, he enfolded her in his arms, his throat blocking up with effort not to shed his tears. They fell anyway, and when Li felt them fall on her hair, she looked up at him.

"Don't cry," she whispered, reaching up to brush his tears away with her thumb. "Why are you crying?"

"Because I could have lost you–I could still lose you when the men come back," he said. He started to say something more, but stopped, considering, then said, "Li, I love you. I don't know what I'd do if something was to happen to you. That day those men attacked you...I wanted to kill them all slowly and painfully for what they had done to you, and I had only met you the day before. You've been in my thoughts almost constantly since I first saw you, and I want nothing more than to be with you always." Since he was already in too deep to back out now, he knelt before her on the floor. "Li, will you marry me?"

* * *

Dun dun dun! And the plot thickens, no? I'm so excited about how well this story is going, but I would love to hear from all of you! Let me know what you think could be done better, what can't you stand, etc. etc.


	19. Chapter Nineteen

**Chapter Nineteen:**

She couldn't sleep. The day had been a blur ever since she had woken up so early to find her best friend in the process of being kidnaped. After that, Sun Jian had proclaimed her a daughter of the Sun family, with all the rank that entitled, then Zhou had proposed to her. The events that had followed once the sun had risen above the horizon seemed just as unbelievable.

Li rolled over, her mind unwillingly replaying the incredibly long day. She had stared dumbfounded at Zhou for some time, not quite able to credit what she had just heard. He told her she should think about it, since she wasn't likely to be able to give an answer in the aftermath of all that had just happened. Eventually, she fell asleep in his arms until the sun woke them.

Zhou and Ce had gone to consult with the captain of the guard, presumably to better formulate the plan with Li as the bait. Li would have gone with them, but she had been summoned to speak with Sun Jian, and one simply didn't refuse the ruler of Wu. Once she had arrived in the audience chamber, Sun Jian had given her a heavy purse. When she stared blankly at it, he explained with a broad grin that it was her winnings for defeating Zhou in the practice room the day before.

"But surely there wasn't that much!" she had exclaimed.

"There was quite a bit of money waged on that sparring match, Li," Sun Jian had said, "Though admittedly I made a rather large wager myself, as did Quan–who lost, by the way. It was well worth it."

That had brought to mind another thing Sun Jian had said to her, but before she could open her mouth to ask, he asked, "Has Zhou proposed to you yet, dear?"

Her mouth had dropped open, then, but she regained her composure and replied with an honest affirmative.

"Good!" Sun Jian had replied delightedly. "When will the wedding be?"

If anything, her jaw dropped further, and she protested, "But I can't marry Zhou! I'm nothing but the daughter of a peasant farmer!"

Sun Jian had looked askance at her, making her feel inexplicably ashamed. Feeling her cheeks color, she dropped her eyes to the floor. He tilted her chin back up with a finger and looked her straight in the eye. "Have you heard anything of my last wife?" When Li shook her head, he continued. "She was a mere daughter of a peasant farmer as well–her family was in fact considerably poorer than yours in matters of money, and also unlike your father, hers had never met anyone remotely close to upper society.

"Birth has nothing to do with love, child. Love will come where it will. Do not refuse him simply because you believe yourself to be too lowly born for him–only refuse him if you genuinely do not love him. You do love him, do you not?"

Li had smiled and nodded.

"Then there is nothing to worry about! Besides, you are now an honorary member of the Sun family, remember? None in the court can look down on you for looking above your station, as you are now ranked higher than any save myself and my family–including Zhou. I know you two will be immensely happy together."

"Thank you, sir," she said with heartfelt gratitude.

As she was on her way out the door, he called out to her, "You know, the first day you arrived, he asked my permission to court you."

From there, she had headed back to the suite to see if Da was there, but had been intercepted by a page that had been looking for her. She was directed to another room in which Ce, Zhou, Quan, and a man she vaguely recognized as the captain of the guards were speaking in hushed tones over a piece of parchment. They looked up as one when she entered, and she felt a chill of foreboding at the calculating gazes of so many men in power. What had she done to deserve such attention from people that had so much control over her whole world? She felt mildly better when Zhou smiled reassuringly at her and beckoned her to stand next to him.

They discussed the plans for capturing the men that would undoubtedly return for Da. Li was told in no uncertain terms that she was to have her daggers to hand _at all times, _no exceptions, and she was never to let her guard down. There was always the chance that Zhou wouldn't be able to escape his hiding place in time to prevent her capture–or worse, her death once she was found not to be Qiao Da. Zhou had squeezed her hand at that, with a look that clearly said wild horses wouldn't keep him from her side, yet that he trusted her to be able to handle herself more than adequately until he arrived.

However, one factor that they had to face was that there would likely be one or two more men this time, to prevent interference. After the men had carefully interviewed any and all terrified servants that had access to the girls' suite, they had found the weak point in a gossipy, flirty maid who blithely answered a young man's questions at the merest compliment. Unwilling to take any risks of the plan being found out, they had passed on instructions to the girls that the switch was to be _only _of sleeping quarters–and then the switch wasn't to be made until after dark, after all the lights were put out in case someone was keeping watch on the windows.

By the time she left the room with Zhou by her side, her head was spinning with the complexities of a plan that had seemed so simple last night. He was going to sneak into Da's wardrobe after their lights were turned out–it wouldn't be difficult, and only Mai Li would see him do it. They had debated about him being under the bed, but had decided that it would be too difficult for him to get out from under there. At least in the wardrobe he'd be in a crouching position rather than laying flat out, and he would be able to come to her aid considerably faster. Aside from the girls switching rooms and Zhou being in the one with Mai Li, the guard had been tripled in the hallways, and two elite soldiers had been placed on either side of the door.

They appeared to be mere soldiers, anyway. In reality, they were Sun Ce and Sun Quan. Sun Ce wasn't about to be left out of the action, and Sun Quan was impulsive enough that he wanted in, too. Shang Xiang had wanted a part to play as well, but had been firmly rebuffed–she had last been seen taking out her frustration on the pells in the practice room.

Prepared for everything, the plan had gone smoothly into motion. The girls had switched rooms quickly and quietly, having carefully drawn the opaque curtains tightly over the windows in case there was a watcher in one of the trees. Zhou had slipped in the room just behind Li with a quick reassuring squeeze of her hand before he ghosted into the wardrobe. She had marveled at how completely silent he was as she had made her way as quietly as she could to Da's bed and slid between the covers. She was wearing a shift and breeches that came to her knees for comfort and little restriction in movement, and when she slid into bed, she put her daggers–unsheathed–beneath the pillow and laid quietly on her side, facing away from the window, one hand loosely holding the hilt of one of her blades.

Yes, this day had been a blur. She hadn't even had the chance to tell Zhou that she loved him and of course she would accept his proposal, the day had been far too busy and she had never gotten the chance to be alone with him long enough to tell him. She wanted to shout from the rooftops that she was in love and engaged to be married to Zhou Yu, Wu's most brilliant general.

Li sighed as she realized that she would just have to wait to shout her joy, but only until she told him, and then she had a feeling that she wouldn't be the only one on that rooftop. She sighed again, this time with impatience as time ticked by. She wanted this over and done with, and fervently hoped that the kidnappers would indeed return tonight to get the job done right so she could speak with Zhou that much sooner.

* * *

Alright, I do believe this story is up and running again for the time being...at least I'm writing again. One thing, though, I'm going to be moving pretty soon and I may not have the opportunity to post as often as I'd like. I'll do my best to get chapters posted once a week, but I can't make any promises!

Aria Celeste: You know I can't give out spoilers like that! >. 'Twould be unforgivably rude! But I'm so glad you like the story, and I'd love to apologize for my cliffhangers, but I do it on purpose, lmao. Hope you liked the update!

Paper Triamgles: Glad to hear from you again! I'm happy that you're still reading despite my long absences! I actually had a good excuse this time, at least...

Insane Phsyco: Wow, thank you so much for the praise! Hope you enjoyed this chapter!

Sirius123: Glad you liked up to chapter three, what have you thought of the rest of the story?

Dragon-Stiel: Thanks to both of you for the lovely review, good to see you haven't any complaints!Yes, I do know it's a little long--I don't do things short (often...I have two exceptions), and these fan fictions are practice for bigger and better things--aka, novels and such. Thanks for the review, and I hope to hear more from you in the future!

Last, but not least--Mike Seedorff: THANK YOU for reviewing, I love you, Mike (as a friend, you know this:P), and I can't wait for you to continue reading!

Thanks to all of you for being so patient--or not...and if you haven't been patient, I fully understand, and I'm dreadfully sorry my personal life interfered with my writing.

Railynn


	20. Chapter Twenty

**Chapter Twenty:**

He knelt on one knee in the wardrobe, peeking between a crack in the doors. It was dark, but he could make out the shape of the bed he knew Mai Li was laying in. Even though he knew very well that she could take care of herself even without him, he couldn't shake the cold ball of fear that seemed to have taken up residence in his gut when Sun Jian had mentioned the plan in the first place. The moment Sun Jian had begun talking about it, Zhou had known what he would ask, and he had also known that Li would accept. She was brave, this woman he'd fallen in love with.

Most men would call her reckless and stupid, and in some places she would be called insane and dishonor cast upon her family for all time, or worse. He knew their world wasn't perfect, that women in most places were considered chattel only good for doing chores and bearing children. Thankfully he served under a ruler that didn't believe such nonsense and always treated women with respect and honor and gave them due credit for their intelligence.

Zhou himself had always respected an intelligent woman, had hoped that one day he would find one that wouldn't be afraid to challenge him, tell him what she thought, what she felt. He had never expected to find a woman that could and did challenge him physically, a woman that laughed openly and was always honest with him. Though admittedly she had yet to give him an answer to his proposal...

He firmly pushed the niggling doubt down. This was not the time to think about that. She hadn't had a moment's time to think since the morning before, and he had proposed to her under traumatic circumstances. It had probably been a very dumb thing to do, and he felt very vulnerable and unsure of himself. As if he was just waiting for the sword to fall. What if she _did _say no?

Again, he pushed those thoughts aside, reminding himself of what he was doing. It was just difficult not to think of Mai Li when she was less than ten feet away from him, laying in a bed that he so desperately wanted to lay next to her in, to hold her against him and just feel her warm firm body against his as he had in the early hours of the morning. He shifted uncomfortably as he remembered the first half of his dream. Oh yes, he definitely wanted more than to just hold her against him, but that would have to wait until they were wed.

Thankfully–or not–these immensely pleasant thoughts were interrupted when he caught a bit of movement in the shadows. Tension immediately shot through him and made the knot of fear twist deeper in his gut. When the shadows continued moving stealthily closer to the bed, he knew that it was finally time for the plan to move into full motion. Very carefully and quietly he opened the door of the wardrobe a hair, then a hair more. When it was just wide enough for him to slip out, he stopped opening it and watched closely for any sign that the shadows had noticed what he was doing. Fortunately, they seemed focused on the bed. His throat tightened as he counted four of them, two on either side of the bed. It would be difficult for Li. Hopefully she hadn't fallen asleep.

He slid silently out of the wardrobe, dropping to all fours so even if anyone did look up they wouldn't be able to see his shadow moving towards them across the deeper shadows on the floor. He watched closely as he slid closer, and saw one of the shadows make some odd motions with its hands and then hold something–a cloth, it looked like–over Mai Li's face.

* * *

When she felt something hover over her face, she whipped her arm holding the dagger out from under the pillow and swiped at the man's arm. She hadn't been able to see how many men were there because she'd been forced to close her eyes when she'd heard movement, so now that she saw four shadows looming above her she felt a bit of panic. She grabbed the other dagger from beneath the pillow as one of the other men reached for her arm and stabbed at him as he grabbed her wrist. He yelped slightly in pain and clutched at his own wrist, letting go of her, and she took the opportunity to get out of the bed past him. She was stopped just short of getting out of reach of the bed by the other two men who converged on her.

One of the men had drawn his own daggers and occupied her well from the front while the other man edged around behind her. She knew what he was going to do, but was forced to pay attention to what the man in front of her was doing and couldn't find the breath to call out for help. When he did, indeed, grab her arms from behind, she used his grip to lift her feet and plant them firmly on her other opponent's chest and push him off his feet.

The man holding her shouted something to his companions, she didn't understand what it was, and when they replied, sounding scared, he growled under his breath. She grinned as she realized that Zhou was probably keeping the other two busy, but in the meantime the man she had just knocked down had gotten up and was doing something to a piece of what looked like cloth in the dark room. She was still struggling to get loose from her captor, but wasn't having any luck. He was just too strong for her, and when she tried to step on him and kick him, he wrapped a leg around hers and tipped them both forward. She landed facedown, and his weight on top of her pressed all the air from her body.

It mattered not how hard she struggled, he had the advantage of position, and the jarring landing had made her drop her weapons. The man on top of her muttered something to his companion, and then something was pressed over her nose and mouth and she felt herself falling into a long tunnel of blackness.

* * *

By the time he had freed himself from the tangle of the two Li had already slashed at, one of the men had slipped out the window and the other was tossing something large out to his compatriot. "No!" Zhou growled, and called out desperately now that he had the chance to do so, grabbing onto the man still inside. "Ce! Quan!" he bellowed as he physically threw the man into the wall. When the brothers rushed in, he didn't stop to explain, he jumped out the window himself to go after the man that had escaped with his beloved.

He could see him ahead, moving surprisingly fast considering that Mai Li wasn't exactly a delicate little flower as most of the women of this day and age were. He put on more speed and was catching up when they reached the wall outpost and Zhou saw the man hand Mai Li off to another dark-clad shadow and they together climbed the steps and then over the edge of the wall. By the time Zhou reached the wall itself, they had made it all the way down the ladder and were in the process of throwing Li's limp, unmoving body over one of two horse's backs, and when he had climbed down the ladder himself they were both mounted and were galloping off into the night.

"No!" Zhou shouted in vain after them, knowing that by the time he could get a horse they would be too far ahead of him to catch up before they reached the next town and could get fresh horses. For a few heartwrenching moments, he stared in the darkness, feeling as if a fist had closed tightly about his heart.

* * *

"What do you mean, Li's been taken?" Da asked hysterically. She had been woken when Zhou had called Ce and Quan for help, and when she had come into the room, she had seen her fiancé and future brother-in-law tying up three men, Mai Li and Zhou Yu nowhere to be seen.

"We came running when we heard Zhou shout 'No,' and then our names, we got here just in time to see him throw that man–" Ce pointed to one of the prisoners– "against the wall, and the second he saw us, he jumped out the window and ran like mad after another guy. Li was nowhere to be seen, and the other guy was carrying something large, so I can only presume it was Mai Li. Not to mention that's about the only thing that could force a sound like that out of Zhou..."

Da marched over to the prisoners and said, "Tell me where she's being taken." One of the men spit at her feet, and she surprised everyone by punching him in the face–hard. Ce found himself looking at his fiancee with new respect–he hadn't known she knew how to wind up and throw all her weight into a punch like that. He made a mental note to steer clear of her anger. "_Tell me where she's being taken, you low-life scum!" _she screeched at the men.

"Da, calm down, it's alright..." Ce began consolingly, and stopped when she rounded on him.

"Lord Sun Ce," she said with dangerous softness, "my best friend has been stolen away in my place when our plan was supposed to be foolproof. I _will not _calm down, do you understand me? She was only taken because she agreed to this stupid plan, and I never should have let her do it! Now these men are going to tell me where she was being taken, or so help me I will torture them myself!" By the end of her tirade, she was shouting again, and everyone in the room was taken aback by her anger. No one had ever seen or heard of the gentle Qiao Da having the capability of such anger, and even the prisoners knew enough to be afraid.

"Don't worry, Qiao Da," said a new voice from the bedroom door. "They'll talk for _me._"

* * *

DUN DUN DUN! Oh NO, Li's been kidnaped! When her captors find out she's not Qiao Da, what will happen? Will they kill her? Release her? Hold her hostage anyway?

Who just appeared at the door?

Find out! In the next episode--er, chapter--of...ENGAGEMENT!

Aria Celeste--Thanks for the review, 'twas much appreciated! XD Hope you liked this chapter as much!


	21. Chapter TwentyOne

**Chapter Twenty-One:**

"Zhou!" Ce exclaimed, turning to look at his friend. "You didn't catch them, then?"

The look in his best friend's eyes broke Ce's heart and chilled him to the bone at the same time. Zhou was hurting, he was afraid, and he was murderous. Ce knew the angry, almost berserk gleam in Zhou's eye. It had only happened once before, when his brother, merely a year younger, had joined the yellow turban cult and been killed in battle. Zhou had lost sanity for a time that day, and had struck fear into the hearts of their enemies and allies alike. He had killed many more enemies than anyone else that day, and Ce found himself being a little frightened of his friend as well. How much worse would it be with Mai Li, considering how much closer he was to her? He knew his friend would fight through the depths of Hell itself to get her back if there was the slightest chance she was still alive, and he would likely torture any and all responsible parties if she was killed.

"Why," drawled another voice from the door, "is it that I never find out about all the exciting doings in my own palace until long after they're completed?"

"Dad!" Ce exclaimed turning to look at his father. There was a sleepy but unconcerned look on his face, and Ce realized that his father must not have heard _all _of the exciting doings.

Suspicion dawned on Sun Jian's face when he noticed everyone's expressions and a missing face. "Where is Mai Li? Shouldn't she be with you?"

"She was taken," Ce whispered. Zhou hadn't even turned to look at Lord Sun Jian, he just stood there stiffly, staring at the prisoners, clenching and unclenching his fists.

"Tell me," Sun Jian ordered.

Zhou fought down a wave of anger and disgust with himself, and told the story in a matter-of-fact tone, all the while railing at himself for not being able to help Li in time. If only he had taken out the two he was fighting quicker, he would have been able to get to her before they knocked her out or drugged her. Those were the only ways she would ever have been so limp and still like that as she was carried off.

He closed his eyes to hold back a spate of tears.

"I am sure that there was nothing you could have done differently, Zhou," said Sun Jian, and Zhou opened his eyes to look at his lord. The compassion and fear for Mai Li's well-being on the man's face forced Zhou to clench his jaw and try to choke down the tears once more. Sun Jian knew well the possibility that instead of being released, Li would be killed upon discovery that she wasn't the right girl.

Then Sun Jian turned to the prisoners. "You _will _tell us where she is being taken," he said severely, "or you will be tortured." When the men simply lifted their chins higher, as if saying that torture couldn't frighten them, Sun Jian grinned wolfishly. "You won't be tortured by just anyone, you'll be tortured by the fiancé of the woman that was taken away. Perhaps you've heard of my young general, Zhou Yu?" At that, one of the men jerked his head up. "Yes, I see you have at least heard the tales. They're true. This is the same young man that cut through the ranks of those infidels alone to cut down Zhang Bao."

The prisoners all looked at each other, panicked. "We'll tell you, but only if we're allowed quick, clean deaths," the oldest one said.

"Provided she is found and returned safely, you may be assured that the executioner's blade is sharp," Sun Jian said.

* * *

Two dark-clad men crept into the busy kitchen of one of the less reputable inns in the city, one of them carrying a large bundle wrapped in a blanket over his shoulder. The inn's kitchen staff–consisting of a head cook and two underlings that mainly took care of the cleaning and onerous chores–were busy cleaning up for the night, since it was well after hours for people to be eating. Not that many people really ate at this particular inn anyway, the food was worse than pig swill. The main reason people came to the place was to drink and cause trouble.

When the rather formidable head cook descended upon them, brandishing a ladle menacingly, they quickly sidled out the serving door and into the ill-lit, boisterous common room. Knowing better than to expect their employer to be in the common room, they kept to the shadows on the periphery, moving quietly and unnoticed around to the doorway that would take them to the guest rooms. Normally, they would have walked right through, laughing and joking with the men in the room and probably propositioning the serving girls, but there was a brawl going on at the moment and they were under strict orders that their "loot" be as undamaged as possible.

As it was, it was nearly impossible not to be dragged into the fight–a beautiful thing it was, too. Encompassing well nigh the entire room with no one quite sure how it had started–as all the best brawls were.

Another night, perhaps. After their job was completed, and not likely in this city. They had been brought in from the Han capitol, and weren't bloody likely to show their faces here again. Especially after being chased by that madman all the way to the palace gates. They knew they had barely escaped this time, and as it was, three of their number had been captured.

When they finally reached the room their employer had rented for the evening, the unladen man tapped out a quick pattern on the door. Not many would notice–or care about if they did–the shady doings, such things happened here all the time, right under Sun Jian's nose. They were summoned inside with a gruff "Come in." The two entered the small room–no better lit than the common room had been–and were told to laid the heavy bundle out on the small, lumpy mattress.

"So you succeeded, finally," their employer said, irritation underlying his words. He hadn't been pleased when they had returned empty-handed the last time. "Where are the others?" he asked as he unwrapped the blanket.

"They were captured–there was quite a fight, sir," one of the men said.

"Yes, they were ready for us," added the other one. "We barely got her–"

"What in hell..." the man in charge interrupted as he got a good look at the face of the girl that had been wrapped in the pillow. The two lackeys quieted immediately, hearing the surprise and fury in his voice. "This isn't the right girl! I know you've both seen the one you were _supposed _to be after, how could you have made such a blunder?"

"She was in the room we were infiltrating, sir!" one of the men cried, prostrating himself on the floor. "By the time we realized our mistake, the fight was well under way, and we couldn't just leave empty-handed! Besides, we were pursued at least to the palace gates by someone who appeared to be quite important–he was too proficient a fighter not to be high rank, and the fact that he was trusted with the guardianship of this girl...she must be rather important too, right? It should be worth the effort, and we can't risk trying again–we would be caught and our lives forfeit."

"Your lives are already forfeit, you knew that before you took the job. I'd thought you were more skilled at your work, but apparently I was mistaken. Unfortunately, now I'm stuck with your mistake. I only hope that my lord doesn't decide to take my head for what you idiots did," the man snarled. "We have to get out of here, and quickly. I don't want anyone to trace us here. Give her another dose of the drug, she's starting to come back to consciousness–I don't want to risk her calling for help before we've left the city."

"But, sir...having her inhale more could kill her!"

"We'll have to take that chance then, won't we? Give her a lesser dose if you must, just do it now and then bring her out to the stable. We have to get away _now._"

With that, he left the room to go down to the stable himself. He wanted to be rid of the oafs, but he didn't want to be forced to take care of the girl himself the day's ride it would take to get to the river. Perhaps he'd throw them overboard once they were safely on their way back home. He knew well that neither of them could swim and were deathly afraid of a watery demise. He allowed himself a grin of anticipation.

* * *

"They're taking her _where!_" Zhou exclaimed. "No...I've got to get to her before it's too late..." He ran from the room without looking back, almost definitely off to the stable and one of the fastest horses therein.

"Ce," Sun Jian said, "I want you to follow him, but take a couple days travel rations for the three of you. I doubt Zhou thought about that in his haste to go after the men who took Mai Li. Not," he added, "that I blame him–I'd do the same thing, if it were the woman I loved in jeopardy."

Ce nodded, and strode out. With any luck, he'd catch up to Zhou just as his friend caught up to Mai Li's captors.

* * *

Thousands of apologies for the months and months you've all had to wait for this...I swear I'm working on more...I finally have internet at home again...I love you all, and thank you all so much for the lovely reviews!


	22. Chapter TwentyTwo

**Chapter Twenty-Two:**

"Damn it, Ning, would you leave me alone?!" an irritated Lu Xun exclaimed after being nudged to the edge of the road for the third time. Gan Ning and Lu Xun were on their way back to the capitol city of Wu after a long and arduous raiding mission and while Lu Xun was generally relatively easygoing, if quiet, Gan Ning was irrepressibly buoyant and boyish and out of sheer excitement of the success of the raid, he annoyed Lu Xun for lack of anything better to do on the boring ride home.

They had left the rest of the ship's crew at the dock under the supervision of one of the other officers so they could go back home a little quicker to report while the caravan of supplies would follow them and likely reach the capitol in two days' time.

It was a beautiful morning, sunny and warm with a slight cool breeze, and the two men were in high spirits—or at least, both would have been if one hadn't insisted on being a pain in the other's behind. They were both relieved to finally be back in Wu and so were in no real rush, though they moved along at a relatively good pace and with easy camaraderie despite Gan Ning's antics. The roads were clear and dry—not terribly surprising as they were in the middle of nowhere and it wasn't quite harvest season yet. All in all, a beautiful day with no disruptions from other people…at least for a little while.

Shortly after noon their peaceful jaunt was interrupted by the thundering approach of horses at full speed. Though they couldn't be seen yet for a bend in the wooded road, Ning and Lu heard them clearly and looked at each other with surprise as well as more than a hint of mischief glinting in Ning's eyes and even mirrored in Lu's. When the riders came around the bend, they saw the two men blocking the road and had to nearly cut into their horses' mouths to stop an all-out collision. When the exhausted horses stood still before Ning and Lu, their sides heaving and trembling, the man on the left side shouted, "Clear the way, we've business to be about!"

"And what business might that be, killing your horses, perhaps?" Lu asked in a wry tone tinged with disgust.

"It's no business of yours what we do with our animals, nor what we're going about, so let us pass," the same man said angrily, almost defensively. His two companions sat quietly, as yet making themselves relatively unnoticeable with the exception of the man in the middle who had his face covered.

Lu and Ning looked at each other, brows raised with skepticism.

"Is it me," Ning drawled, "or does it sound like you three have something to hide? What's that there on the back of your horse?" This question was directed at the man on the other side of the silent man in the middle, who had an oddly shaped object lashed to the back of his horse and wrapped in what looked like a blanket.

The two men on the outside looked at the man in the middle, panic obvious on their faces. "It is none of your concern what we carry, it is our own private business and we are not subject to the questioning of random travelers," rasped the man in the middle, his voice issuing from deep in his hood. The bundle chose this moment to make a sound and move feebly, which drew the sharp attention of both Ning and Lu while the two underlings tried—and failed—to keep their panic to a minimum.

"If that is a person, it is definitely our concern about your business. Slavery is not allowed in Wu, and any imprisonment and punishment for crimes is taken care of by Sun Jian himself," Lu said. "I don't recognize any of you as being officers of Wu, so if this is a prisoner that you are taking to bring to justice with Sun Jian, you're heading the wrong way."

"Indeed, we'd be glad to remove your burden from you," Ning said almost cheerfully, "as we're on our way to the capitol ourselves. Actually, I do believe it would be better for all concerned if you just handed him over and let us take care of the matter while you go back to your lives in the Han capitol."

At this offhanded mention of their home, the underlings looked at each other, at their superior, then back at each other, very obviously frightened and rightly assuming that this could not end well, but they couldn't bring themselves to do anything against the order of the man who was paying them. The men that were hindering their mission were obviously highly ranked under Sun Jian, and apparently the man whose identity none of them knew with any certainty had realized this as well and knew the mission was a lost cause. He nodded to the man with the person lashed to his horse, and with much relief, the man dismounted and untied the burden, throwing it down at the feet of Ning and Lu's horses, then mounting hurriedly again as Ning and Lu moved aside to let them pass.

The blanket groaned and moved feebly again as Lu dismounted and hurried over to it while Ning watched the men ride their tired horses at the best speed the beasts could muster.

"Ning, it's a woman!" Lu exclaimed, which immediately made Ning dismount and hurry over to see. Shameless womanizer the former pirate was, he was hoping she'd be so grateful to have been rescued that perhaps he could take some pleasure of her body. It wasn't as though Lu would be man enough to seduce the woman to his bed.

Lu cut open the ropes that bound the blanket to her, then the ones that bound wrists and ankles when he discovered them upon unwrapping her. She didn't open her eyes for this process—indeed, she still appeared to be unconscious, though fighting to awaken, as evidenced by her weak attempts to move and occasional moans. When she was free, Lu lifted her head and put a skin of water to her lips and dribbled some into her mouth. This seemed to revive her some, so he poured some more into her mouth and she gulped it thirstily, emptying it in a matter of moments as Ning watched.

When she suddenly snapped her eyes open, they both jumped a bit in surprise, and with speed they wouldn't have expected of someone so obviously drugged, she jumped up and ran a few feet away from them, looking at them with suspicion and rage fairly sparking from her eyes. "Who are you?" she choked out. "Where are you taking me? Where are we?"

"Whoa there, little lady, we're not the guys that apparently kidnapped you," Ning said, holding his empty hands out. "Is that any way to talk to your rescuers?"

She simply glared at him, beginning to sway a little.

"We're officers of Wu, this is Gan Ning and I'm Lu Xun," Lu said in a calm voice. "We were on our way home when we happened to stop the men you were with. What happened to you?"

"I…I'm not sure…" she said, going even paler than she had been all of a sudden as she collapsed onto all fours and retched violently. Lu immediately went to her aid, pulling her hair back and supporting her while Ning looked on with a grossed out expression on his face.

When the violent spate of vomiting had ceased, she tried to stand up again, shaking off Lu's helpful hands. She stood for all of perhaps two seconds before fainting dead away, Lu barely catching her before she hit the ground.

The two men looked at each other in some confusion, wondering what in the name of all the good gods they had stumbled into when they heard another horse galloping at full speed towards them.

"What now…?" Ning asked as the horse thundered into view.

"Get your filthy hands off of her!" shouted a familiar voice as the figure rushed toward them, sword held high, feral fury wreathing his face.

* * *

Woo…first chapter in over a year…shit, guys, I'm sorry, life has become hellishly busy for me, but I had an unexpected night off and I've been reading through and all of a sudden the story burst into flame in my head again. 


	23. Chapter TwentyThree

**Chapter Twenty-Three:**

He had been riding his horse hard, he knew it, but he had to catch up to Li, had to find her--before any more harm came to her. Guilt and fear racked him, if only he'd fought harder, if only he had run faster, if he had called for help sooner...But that wasn't doing him any good, and he knew it, so he ruthlessly pressed those thoughts deep down beneath fury. So it was when he came upon them and saw her--time stood still for that moment, he didn't care who she was with, they didn't matter, she was the only thing that was clear as day, and her head was hanging across someone's arm, was she dead or merely unconscious?  
_Gods, not dead, _he prayed fervently.

"Get your filthy hands off of her!" he shouted, drawing his sword as time moved forward again, in the grip of incandescent fury.

It came as a complete shock when he found himself firmly on his back with a sword point at his neck and Gan Ning's foot on his chest. "What...?" he choked out, trying to recover from having the wind knocked out of him. Then he remembered what was going on. "Li!" he shouted, shoving Ning's sword away and rolling out from under the foot holding him as he scrambled over to where she was being cradled in Lu Xun's arms. Gently taking the woman who was his life from Lu Xun, he stroked the side of her face, relieved to find her warm and breathing, while Lu and Ning stared at him with utter astonishment. What the devil had happened in the time they had been away? The haughty and beautiful Zhou Yu...in love? What other explanation could there be for the way he was looking at the girl they had rescued, with such concern wreathing his face, his strong hands holding her so tenderly? Tearing their eyes away from Zhou Yu and the mysterious woman, they looked at each other, their faces mirroring surprise and utter bewilderment.

Oblivious to all of this, Zhou shifted her effortlessly closer to him and buried his face in the side of her neck, whispering, "Love, I am so sorry, forgive me, please wake up, I need you," over and over again.

So absorbed did he become in his litany that he was startled when she moved against him and pulled back enough to look at his face, her eyes still glassy and slightly confused, to whisper, "Forgive you for what? And why is it that when everything else is moving in fast circles, you're always stable and fixed in my vision?"

He stared blankly at her for a moment in absolute astonishment, then a smile broke over his lovely features and he laughed, hugging her tightly. She wrapped her arms around him and hugged him as tightly as she could before, laughingly, she had to tell him to loosen his hold.

"You're welcome, by the way." The sound of Ning's voice snapped them both out of their reverie, and Zhou looked up at the pirate with a silly grin on his face.

"How did you come to be in the presence of these scoundrels, anyway?" Zhou asked, looking back down at Li.  
She frowned. "I don't really know. The last thing I remember was the fight, then I woke up and I was with these two, then I woke up again and I was in your arms...what the hell happened? How did I even get here?"  
"Yeah, what exactly brought it about that we had to save your ladylove here?" Ning asked impertinently, earning a jab in the ribs from Lu.

Zhou told them the story of how someone had been trying to kidnap Sun Ce's fiancee, the plan for capturing said men (which had been halfway successful, at least), how Li had been carried away as the wrong hostage and Zhou had given chase. "But how did you two know to stop them?" Zhou asked, puzzled, still holding tight to Li as she was to him.  
"Superb intellectual skill," Ning piped in haughtily, getting another elbow to the ribs.

"They were running their horses into the ground, they were the only traffic we had run across all day, and it was honestly more of a distraction than anything else--we just happened to see that they had something they wanted to hide and she passed into our possession. I guess it makes sense that it was so easy if she was the wrong hostage in the first place," Lu said thoughtfully.

"What did they look like?" Zhou asked.

"Well, the two lackeys were pretty damned indistinguishable--very plain, they'd blend in ridiculously easy with a crowd, and we'd never be able to find them. Their accents were funny, though, they must not have been from around here."

Lu chimed in directly after that with, "They were from the original Han capitol, it's a very distinctive accent--but what would they have been trying to steal away a woman from Wu for? Dong Zhuo is having more than enough trouble as it is keeping his footing there, and the only reason he's having as much luck as he is is because he's got the young emperor as hostage."

Just as Zhou opened his mouth to comment speculatively, Li's complexion turned a little green again and she darted away from Zhou to the edge of the road to be sick in the bushes. Immediately Zhou went to her aid, holding her hair back from her face for her. This time when she was done retching, she didn't faint dead away again, much to the relief of all concerned.

* * *

When Ce showed up--in a slightly less invasive manner than the previous visitors, though no less urgent until he saw the little gathering of friends, he surveyed the situation and started a fire. By this time it was approaching evening, and as it was plain that Li was not going to be able to travel this night, they set up camp. By unspoken agreement, Ning, Lu and Ce didn't say a word when Li and Zhou disappeared together into a tent, Li pleading exhaustion (understandably so), and Zhou saying he was going to make her comfortable. The trio left by the fire were under no illusions as to what was actually going on, nor did they really mind. With the exception of Ning and Lu, anyway. As soon as the couple disappeared into the tent, Ning and Lu sat on either side of Ce and started whispering questions about the girl to him. Who was she? Where was she from? How had they met? Were she and Zhou truly in love?

With the last question answered affirmatively, Ning shrugged it off while Lu's face fell in unadulterated disappointment. He liked Li, she was beautiful and spirited unlike most women he had met, and he could definitely see himself falling for her. Ah well. Friendship it would have to be then. He doubted very much that he would have been able to compete with the beautiful Zhou Yu anyway.

After the interrogation was completed, Ning suggested a celebratory bottle of liquor, and uncharacteristically Lu decided to drink with them. Three bottles of liquor later, all were well drunk, especially Lu, who had slumped over asleep next to the fire, much to Ning and Ce's amusement as they cracked open a fourth bottle to share between themselves, being merrily noisy.

* * *

Upon entering the tent, Li and Zhou immediately fell into each other's arms, lips meeting in glorious reunion.They stayed this way for quite some time, until finally they parted for air and Zhou asked, "Can you ever forgive me for not protecting you?"

"Zhou, it wasn't your fault," Li said. "It was just a series of bad circumstances, and besides, we're together again now." She kissed him with all the passion she had, and he returned it more than willingly, crushing her to him again as if he would never let her go.

This time it was she who pulled back. "Oh, I almost forgot," she breathed. "I accept your proposal."

"What?" he asked, looking more than a little confused.

Instead of answering, she kissed him again and he rolled on top of her to be able to kiss her more thoroughly. She took the opportunity to slip her hands under his shirt to explore the lean-muscled expanse of his torso, which made him growl into her mouth and kiss her even more fiercely, then he moved from her mouth to her neck, kissing and nibbling softly on the creamy expanse of skin, drawing a delighted sigh of pleasure from Li.

All of a sudden he pulled back and looked down at her in wonder. "Wait, what you said earlier..."

"What did I say earlier?" she asked in dazed confusion.

"My proposal, you accept my proposal...does that mean that you...that you will marry me? You'll really marry me?"

She smiled up at him. "Of course I'll marry you. How could I refuse the great general of Wu, especially considering that I love him so much?"

He whooped loudly in delight, bouncing off of her and dashing out of the tent before she could say anything.

Zhou paused only briefly at the sight of Lu passed out by the fire and Ning and Ce with arms thrown about each other's shoulders, free hands holding mugs, looking up at him with drunken puzzlement as their song had been interrupted by his sudden bursting onto their scene.

"I'm engaged! I'm getting married!" he exclaimed to the bemused audience, then ducked back into the tent.

* * *

Woo, she finally accepted his bloody proposal...also, I know you guys are reading, so if you could do me the immensely huge favor of giving me some feedback, I'd much appreciate it. I also generally reply to all of my reviews, so any questions you have get answered. 


	24. Chapter TwentyFour

**Chapter Twenty-Four**

It was late evening the day after the rescue when the group rode into the lamplit courtyard of the palace and dismounted, handing their horses off to the grooms that came rushing up. Ce, Ning and Lu were laughing and joking with each other as Zhou tenderly lifted a rather pale Li down from the horse when pandemonium broke out from the entrance to the palace. The entire Sun family as well as Da had come to welcome them home.

"Li!" Da shrieked, nearly knocking the taller woman over as she ran and wrapped her arms tightly around her best friend, who grunted in pain. Almost immediately thereafter, Da held Li back at arm's length and inspected her. "Are you hurt? What happened?"

Zhou gently released Li from Da's grip and said, "She's a bit under the weather at the moment, she should lie down—I don't think she was as up for the speed of our trip back here as she tried to tell us." When he saw the questions and concern in her eyes, he said, "Talk to the other three—they can tell you almost everything."

With that, he led Li past the welcoming committee with a nod for Sun Jian and headed for the suite she shared with Da. "Are you alright?" he asked softly, noting that she was growing ever paler as they traversed the halls of the palace.

"If I say yes, would you believe me?" she asked with a weak smile, her voice barely audible as she clung to him, visibly fighting to remain conscious.

Concern etched his features as he looked at her, but he fought the urge to swing her up into his arms and carry her the rest of the way, knowing she wouldn't appreciate the disregard for her pride. Instead, he supported her the rest of the way to the suite in silence, relieved to find the physician waiting for them in the sitting room.

Taking one comprehensive glance at Li, the physician promptly ordered her to her bed and began asking questions as to what, precisely, had happened to put her in such a state. As Li was in no condition to coherently reply, Zhou answered for her, having been told of the sickly sweet odor of the cloth that had been held over her face to subdue her before her kidnapping. The physician looked sharply at him at that, and ordered Li to sleep, that he would be back to check on her in the morning with a brew that should help her to feel better.

Li looked up at Zhou from her bed and squeezed his hand weakly, her eyes bleary, dark circles spreading beneath them as she released her grip on consciousness and slept.

Zhou, knowing she was finally safe, followed the physician out of the room and in the hallway gripped the man's arm and asked, "You know what she was drugged with?"

The physician sighed and nodded. "I know. It's a potent thing, and dangerous if too much of the fumes are inhaled, but there's a relatively simple antidote to relieve the weakening effects of it—I just have to brew it. Without the antidote, she would ultimately likely be fine, with her strong constitution, but she would be weak for at least two weeks while her body tried to fight off the effects."

"And with the antidote?" Zhou prompted.

"With the antidote, little strenuous activity, and good food, she should be her old self in a few days." The physician started to walk on, then paused, turning back to Zhou. "This happened last night?"

"Yes."

"And you say she was violently ill more than once, with a tendency towards fainting?" At Zhou's nod, he continued, "They almost gave her too much. A little would have made her woozy, a medium amount would have kept her unconscious for an hour, but her symptoms are all those of a very heavy dosage. This one was a very close call. Another dose would likely have put her into a coma, eventually killing her." The physician sighed again. "I'll have to make a large batch of the antidote, she'll need to take at least three draughts over the next two days."

With that, the man walked away, leaving Zhou in thought as he wandered toward the family common room, knowing that was likely where everyone would be congregated.

* * *

After Zhou had taken Mai Li inside, Da had peppered Ce with questions, barely pausing long enough to politely greet Ning and Lu upon their introduction before continuing the barrage on her fiancé. Ce answered as best as he could, but after some time of this, and everyone still standing out in the courtyard, he grabbed her by the waist and lifted her up for a searing kiss, originally intended for the sole purpose of being able to catch his breath. This effectively distracted her from her questioning, but as his lips moved on hers, he found himself rather distracted in the sweet taste of her, and it took a surreptitious cough from his father to get him to release her, both of their cheeks flaming in embarrassment.

He reached for her hand and she gave it to him, squeezing it reassuringly as the group retired indoors. She looked up at him and smiled shyly, making his heart jump in his chest at the trust in her eyes. He would never let anything happen to her. He couldn't. She meant too much.

This time it was Gan Ning who coughed and brought him out of his reverie. Recalled to his surroundings, he paid attention to and laughed at the former pirate as he told tales of his "conquests" while out on their mission while Sun Jian listened and smiled in silence, shaking his head at the impetuous Gan Ning. Shang Xiang looked on in confusion and curiosity, and when she finally piped up and asked what he meant by some things, Sun Jian abruptly called a halt to the revelry.

"When Zhou Yu gets here," he said, "I'll have you two give your report, and then give you detail on what has happened in your absence. However, once Zhou Yu arrives, I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you ladies to leave us."

"Dad!" Shang Xiang whined, and was rewarded only with a stern glance. Da merely nodded in acceptance, her hand still in Ce's.

When Zhou walked in, his features still wreathed in concern, Sun Jian sat up and asked, "How is she?"

"She's sleeping," Zhou responded. "The trip was harder on her than she let on. She wasn't ready to travel. The physician is making a brew of the antidote for her and has pronounced that she will fully recover. Other than that, she's more than a little banged up from the rough handling and being slung over a horse."

Sun Jian nodded, looking a little more relieved, and then dismissed Da and Shang Xiang from the room.

When he was sure that Shang Xiang was no longer listening at the doorway, he asked, "Well, gentlemen, was the mission successful?"

Ning grinned. "Wildly," he said.

Lu Xun went into a detailed description of the various raids they had performed in Dong Zhuo's territory and the intelligence they had gleaned of the despot's activities.

When the report was completed, Sun Jian sat back, stroking his chin.

"Any thoughts?" he asked, looking to Zhou and Ce.

"Well," Zhou said thoughtfully, "the tyrant will have to be taken down. No one of the forces in power is going to be able to do it alone, though. Liu Bei and Yuan Shao will likely be willing to form an alliance to rid ourselves of this blight on the land, perhaps Cao Cao will be as well. I believe it's likely we'll receive a summons for just such an alliance, and when we do we should definitely agree."

Sun Jian nodded. "Indeed, I had come to the same—"

A frantic knock on the door interrupted this last statement, followed shortly by Da burst in into the room in her untied nightrobe. Zhou and Ce immediately stood up, Zhou with a dark feeling of forboding tightening his gut. "Zhou," Da gasped, "Li—she's screaming, and she's babbling, and your name keeps coming up, and I can't make her stop screaming!"

Before she finished her declaration, Zhou was gone, running down the hall while Ce wrapped his fiancée in his arms and started leading her hurriedly back to her room as the rest of the men in the conference followed.

* * *

Much thanks to the people that reviewed the last chapter, it's so much appreciated! And I know you all hate the excuses, but I really have been insanely busy, what with working too much and publishing a book and all. Lord, it's almost been three years since I started this damn thing, but hopefully it'll be over relatively soon...I hope I hope...I actually just got Dynasty Warriors 5: Empires, so that's helped to inspire me to continue on in this fic.

I hope you all haven't completely lost your patience with me.

Thank you again!


	25. Chapter TwentyFive

**Chapter Twenty-Five:**

_It was the battlefield again. Bodies littered the ground, arrows and spears piercing the flesh of some, while others had gaping sword wounds from which their blood spilled crimson. Some few that still lived weakly cried for help and tried to struggle to their feet while others lay glassy-eyed with shock as life dimmed in their bodies; others yet cried out to their ancestors to receive them, or to their families that would never see them again. In death their uniforms no longer mattered, be they red or blue. She had killed her share of those in the blue uniforms that day, and she was weary of it—so very weary—though the battle was not yet ended. Here and there she picked up a dagger lying on the ground and replaced it in one of the many sheaths she wore on her body, occasionally pulling one from a blue-clad body and wiping it on her already bloodstained leggings before placing it in an empty sheath. _

_The sound of steel clashing against steel raged around her, but it seemed distant somehow, as though she was not really a part of the fighting despite her occasional quick thrusts and skirmishes with the occasional unoccupied Wei soldier as she moved through the battlefield, searching for something—someone. She had lost her horse long ago to a pikeman, as had a majority of the noble cavalry that had ridden forth that day. A part of her longed to mourn the loss of her father's warhorse, but there was no time—not yet, and if she didn't find him, there would be an even greater loss to mourn, for her heart would be torn asunder in the loss of her love. _

_Her movements became more and more hindered by Wei soldiers attacking her as she struggled through the endless battle, but at last she saw him—for a time they had fought side by side, but had lost each other in the fighting. He had lost his horse somewhere in the melee as well, and at the moment he was fighting atop a small knoll, his movements fluid and graceful as he flowed through the deadly dance of the blade. All at once her spirit was lightened again at seeing his magnificence, despite the absolute loss of all emotion in the midst of so much bloodshed. She fought more viciously against her attackers, her only aim to reach his side where she and he might dance together once more and finish this senseless battle to once again reside in the peace within the circle of each other's arms. _

_Her voice welled behind her lips as she killed the last soldier standing in the way of her rush to his side, and she called his name in a curious mixture of battle cry and proclamation of love and victory. He seemed to hear her and, momentarily unencumbered by enemies, his eyes sought her out. Finding her, relief washed visibly over his face as she ran to him, sword still naked in her hand and running with the blood of their enemy. Exultation of a sort rose unbidden within her and despite the weariness that pulled at her limbs, she ran faster towards him. Exultation, however, was quickly displaced by horror as she saw the cavalryman riding up behind him. He didn't see it, too absorbed in the sight of her hale and whole, and she cursed herself roundly, trying to shout to him as she searched blindly with her free hand for a dagger to throw. _

_Finding none and quickly running out of time she continued running toward the man she would give her life for, and, shifting her grip on her sword, threw it—powered by her already gathered momentum and a strength she hadn't until this moment discovered she possessed—and cried out again for him to turn around. He never did turn to face his enemy, holding the vision of her steadily in his gaze as he began to move for her, he never would have seen the blow that would have taken his life had her sword not flown true and struck its mark directly through the neck of the officer on the horse, the force of the throw such that it carried the man off of his animal to lie gurgling for breath past the steel in his throat. _

_She would have continued running for him had it not been for the sheer factor of the relief that coursed through her of a sudden at procuring his safety. As it was, the relief felled what remained of her strength and she fell to her knees as he continued to rush for her. He became a blur as her clarity of vision became clouded by a mixture of sweat, dirt and blood running into her eyes, and she never saw his expression change, only the sudden surprise of a stinging pain entering through her back…_

Zhou had entered Li's room at a run and was quite surprised to see her sitting bolt-upright in her bed, loudly and rather incoherently babbling and making slashing and thrusting gestures at the air with an invisible sword. The only words he could readily understand were something about Wei, got to find him, he can't die, and the rest was lost in garbled obscurity. Her face was a mask of horror and rage, though her eyes held none of that heat, unfocused and sightless as she thrashed at what appeared to be invisible enemies. Reaching her side, Zhou grabbed both of her hands and rather frantically shook Mai Li, not knowing what else to do. When the others entered the room it was to the sight of his last relatively violent shake as he yelled at Li to wake up, that it was a dream. She collapsed at this point back onto her bed, her wrists sliding from his surprised grasp at the sudden ceasing of movement. Zhou turned and looked at them, his eyes slightly dazed and worried.

Da stood huddled in Ce's embrace, concerned tears falling from her eyes while the rest of the men looked on in abject shock.

Sun Jian was the first to break the heavily weighted silence. "What in the name of all the gods was that all about?" he asked.

Zhou, shaking off the cloak of dread that had settled around his body, responded with, "It must be the shock of the things she's endured over the past few days. She's had strong dreams before, but I don't think they've ever been this…vivid. Whatever she saw, it must have been terrible, and I don't think her mentioning Wei several times was any coincidence." With a sigh, he added, "This instance may be a true dreaming, Sun Jian. A battle with Wei may be in the near future."

"I'll have to hope otherwise, then, Zhou Yu," Sun Jian replied, his voice weighted with exhaustion. "We don't have time to squabble with Wei right now—not when there exists Dong Zhuo on the horizon. Perhaps after the threat of Dong Zhuo has been eliminated will I be able to spare thought and preparation for visions."

Zhou nodded mutely and, still sitting on the edge of Li's bed, absentmindedly reached out and stroked her hair. Still sleeping, Li sighed deeply and rolled onto her side, closer to his warmth, making him look down at her, smiling tenderly.

"We'll not disturb you further this night, Zhou," Sun Jian said softly. "You may keep your watch over Li. When the missive arrives, someone will come to find you. Good night."

Zhou didn't even look up as Sun Jian and the others left Li's bedroom and then dispersed from the common area Da and Li shared to their own pursuits—Da and Ce for a calming walk in the gardens, Gan Ning for a tavern, and Lu Xun for his bed, leaving Sun Jian to wander the halls of his palace alone, lost in the memory of his beloved peasant wife who had died so long ago. They had been much as Zhou and Li were together, unconsciously responsive to each other, very much in love. For a moment he allowed the pain that still resided within him at her death consume him, and spoke to the empty air or her spirit that undoubtedly resided in the halls of heaven: "I still miss you and mourn the loss of our daughter to this day. I pray you to beseech the gods with whom you reside not to tear these two apart the way you and I were."

With that, he gently put his grief away again and proceeded to his bedchamber.

* * *

Good lord, and another long pause. Thank you all for your lovely reviews, and I swear if things would just quit coming up to prevent me from writing, it'd be fantastic. Just moved. For the 5th time in a year, the 9th time in three years. Hopefully I'll be a little stationary now. Also am out of work and trying to find a new job at the moment--wish me luck with that one.

Hope you enjoy the chapter, everyone, promise I'll try to write more frequently!


	26. Chapter TwentySix

**Chapter Twenty-Six:**

The sound of cursing and dull _thunk_ing sounds drifted out of the weapons practice room and meandered aimlessly down the quiet halls of the palace, dissipating into nothing long before they reached any occupied sleeping quarters. Only the occasional night servant and a few other sleepless wanderers heard these, and all but one steadfastly avoided the increasingly inventive foul language that filled the practice room so full that it couldn't quite be contained.

He slipped inside silent as a cat and closed the door behind him just as quietly to lean against it and let the furious invective wash over him as he watched her beat the poor dummy into absolute oblivion. Only when, some time later, she seemed to come to the end of her surprisingly colorful and well-versed language and leaned exhausted against the torn apart dummy did he speak.

"Am I to understand that you have heard about the marching orders?"

"How could I fail to?" she asked, not even startling or turning in surprise at the sound of his voice. It shouldn't have surprised him—she had probably known the second he entered the room.

He walked up to her and took a closer look at the dummy. What he saw made him raise his brows. She had been angry—the poor thing was very nearly destroyed. He sighed inwardly, noting the way her shoulders were still tense as a bowstring. There was really only one way he'd be able to give her the news he had come to talk to her about, and unfortunately that meant more than a few bruises for him. Ah well, at least he had come prepared.

"So, are you calmed down enough to fight with a living person rather than a padded sawdust dummy?" he asked calmly, taking down a blunted sword.

She stiffened, rekindled anger infusing her limbs with energy once more, as he had known would happen after that well-aimed comment. Standing up, she turned to face him, raising her own blunted sword with no sign of the seething anger boiling just under the surface of her skin. He hid his grin of approval and pride as he looked at her emotionless face. His perfect pupil—his perfect equal, in all ways. Wishing to get the inevitable under way, he attacked.

When she neatly sidestepped him and thwacked him across the back with the flat of the blade, he grimaced. She wasn't as tired as he'd hoped, and he was going to have to concentrate a little harder than he'd thought to avoid some of the worse bruises he was going to receive.

He threw himself into the battle with one mind after that, holding nothing back—as she deserved and expected of him. Likewise she held nothing of herself back, and together they worked their tensions out of their system with carefully controlled thrusts and parries, dancing around the practice circle with the precisely choreographed movements of swordplay.

Time passed swiftly by as they danced together, each knowing the other's mind and movements so well that it became what to any other eye would be a confusing anticipation of each move two or three moves before the other made it and compensating for such so far in advance that the clanging of their blades became a song only a warrior could understand and appreciate.

Any people wandering the palace now no longer heard curses and the dull sounds of practice blade hitting padded sawdust, but the war symphony they created in otherwise silence, communing with each other through their blades.

Eventually, she made a misstep, left an opening that he quickly jumped on and pressed the blunted tip against her neck. "Yield?" he asked softly, jubilantly, as he held her gaze.

"Do you?" she asked, her eyes shining with the same exultation that he felt as he felt the cold steel of her blade against his neck as well.

He laughed, exhilarated, and lowered his sword, followed a few moments later by hers. "Stalemate, then," he said, and reached out to push a few errant strands of sweat-soaked hair off her face. They both labored for breath as they put their practice blades away and left the practice room, his arm thrown across her shoulders, hers around his waist.

Together they walked through the uninhabited wings of the palace that were only used during the day for various tasks. Neither of them wanted to stiffen up after the extensively long bout, and he was relatively certain that she had been there for hours before he had joined her. Unnecessary sore spots were something both most definitely wished to avoid, especially considering they each had a fair amount of bruising. For a time they walked in companionable silence, her thoughts undoubtedly circling around their bout, her anger and frustration forgotten for the time being; his thoughts were running relatively the same circuit, marveling at the proficiency she had shown him.

Her progress had come along in leaps and bounds, and he was almost positive she had done quite a bit of practicing and self-teaching against some poor officers that had likely swallowed their own steel against her. He was so proud of her, his warrior fiancée.

This thought brought him to what he had wanted to tell her.

"Li," he started, and she looked up at him mildly, a grin tugging at the corners of her lips, "I know that Ning told you about our preparations and the marching orders—and he probably told you that you were going to be left at home with all the other women, undoubtedly why you were so angry. I was rather furious myself when he came and told me that you were expecting to come along and he had told you that under no circumstances was a woman going to be allowed on the field."

He stopped for a moment and looked down at her. She looked back, no sign of the sheer fury she had been venting before in her gaze. "Are you saying that I'll be allowed to come—and to fight?" she asked evenly.

"Of course! If you want to, that is."

She smiled brightly up at him. "I want to come…on the condition that you and I are not to be separated. We'll dance together through the battlefield and take down our enemies. I will not risk losing you and being left at home to wonder if you're alright."

They had stopped walking and stood facing each other. He pulled her tightly into his arms and tucked her head under his chin. It had been a week and a half since he had feared he was going to lose her. She had recovered from the poison in remarkably good time, but he hadn't been able to suppress his urge to not let her out of his sight for the duration of this. She had eventually had to tell him to go away and leave her alone for a while, at which point the meetings and councils had started and they had seen little of each other for the past few days, which was why he hadn't been the first to tell her of the marching orders.

They stood there for a long time in each other's arms, simply enjoying the feeling of togetherness. When they finally moved to walk back towards their separate sleeping quarters to clean up the traces of their exertions, light was beginning to seep through the windows and the palace was beginning to stir.

* * *

Alrighty, two in two days, I'm pretty happy with that. I am trying to move this along a little quicker so I can get it finished and concentrate on my other priorities--such as publishable works. So hopefully spaces between updates won't be too long anymore. Sorry for the shortness of the chapter--boyfriend was bothering me to get off so he can play WoW, lol. 


	27. Chapter TwentySeven

**Chapter Twenty-Seven:**

Two days before the Wu army was due to leave for Si Shui Gate, Da and Li wandered the marketplace of the city. Da was looking for reading material and embroidery thread with Li along merely as company. It would be some time before the two women saw each other again, and the next day was going to be a flurry of activity to be sure all was ready to march at dawn.

"Please, Li, please don't let Lord Sun Ce get hurt," Da had said when she found out that Li was accompanying the war party. Li had reassured her that she would do her best, knowing that while Da was an expert with her twin fans, the battlefield really wasn't the place for the gentle woman her friend was. So Da would remain at home with the other women and the men that weren't going to war, taking care of the needs of the realm alongside Sun Quan whilst the ruler and his heir were off fighting tyranny.

Li was excited, she could barely contain herself, which was another reason for being out shopping with Da—she needed something to keep occupied while she impatiently awaited the departure. While they were out wandering, she also ordered a new pair of boots as well as some supportive shifts in both leather and dyed red cotton that she favored to fight in. The craft masters had looked at her as if she had lost her senses, especially when she added three more pairs of leggings to the list, but they had shrugged and done as she asked anyway, knowing her for an important connection of the Sun family. The clothes would be delivered to the palace in the morning, to be packed and taken with her when she left.

Da found several books that appealed to her, and Li found a few as well (tactical warfare had a special interest for her, as well as politics and history), and once the embroidery thread shopping was done as well, both girls were grateful they could just have the packages dispatched to the palace rather than having to carry them around with them.

Intended shopping done, they wandered around for pleasure, taking in the various entertainments strewn among the vendors. They laughed at a puppet show, tossed money into a juggler's hat, and bought some sweets to savor as they wandered slowly through the bazaar. When they came to a tent professing fortunes told, Da was delighted. She had always wanted to have her fortune told, and her father had never let her when the odd old woman had occasionally passed through their province. Li somewhat reluctantly agreed, not sure why she suddenly felt the chill of foreboding shiver up her spine.

They entered the small tent, and Li very nearly gagged on the heavy fumes of various sticks of incense burning in strategic places of the small space. A woman so old that she seemed to have shrunken in on herself greeted them in a raspy voice and when price had been discussed, grabbed Da's wrist with her gnarled and bony hand. Li folded her legs and sat down behind Da and listened to the woman.

"Ah, so here is the famous Qiao Da, renowned beauty and fiancée to the dashing heir of Wu." Li fought down a snort of disgust—that was hardly an eye-opener, everyone knew who Da was, she was known through the middle kingdom, and her engagement to Ce had been talked about equally as much. "Do not scoff at things you do not understand, daughter of Mai Jin," the crone said, and Li bit the inside of her lip to keep from saying something disrespectful.

"Now, Qiao Da, let us see what your palm may tell us…good strong lines, yes, and delicate…You are stronger than most—even you—give you credit for, my dear, and it will doubtless serve you well in the years to come. You have already begun on the path to your great love—he will be completely faithful to you until the day he dies. Count yourself lucky, dear, not many find such an unswerving man." She released Da's hand and pulled out a small pouch and cup. She dumped the contents of the pouch into the cup, shook it, and tossed the stones onto the table. Humming and clucking to herself, she sorted through the stones as Da and Li watched—avidly, despite Li's doubts.

"Yes, your strength will serve you quite well in the near future. The bones tell me that a very great weight will be pressed upon your shoulders—you will be the shelter for souls nearly broken with grief, you will help to heal them with your loving nature. There will be much grief for you as well, child, and I am sorry for that, but do not ignore your own needs for another's strength in favor of everyone else's demands on you. You can handle a great burden, but you will need to find a way to ease the load once in a while lest you break under it.

"Ah, yes, and your worry about this business with that petty tyrant, Dong Zhuo…fear not, child, all of your loved ones will return safely to you. This time, at least."

With that last cryptic statement, the old woman clapped her hands and declared it was the end of Da's reading, and that now it was Li's turn. Li somewhat trepidatiously traded spots with Da. The fortune teller looked directly into Li's eyes, a knowing gaze that made her spine tingle with an emotion very close to fear. Not looking down, the crone took the hand Li tentatively extended gently. Her gaze softened, and she said softly, "You fear my gift which you are not sure you believe in, but you have a measure of that gift as well, child." Li made a sound of exclamation and tried to pull her hand back, but the old woman's grip became like iron. "You dream, Mai Li, and you dream true. Heed the bad as well as the good."

She broke the gaze then, looking down at Li's weapons-callused hand.

"You were a difficult child, though pleasant. You had—and still do, as I can see by these calluses—a penchant for things unfeminine. Your father loves you very much to have allowed you as much freedom as he has. You have a great love in your life as well…and soul bound, at that. This Zhou Yu is a complex man, and also a true one. You are his equal in every way, though you haven't yet been tested as he has. Your lines are very strong, yes, and your destiny line runs deep, but it is short…" Abruptly, she released Li's hand and gathered up the stones still scattered on the table and put them back in the cup, which she proceeded to shake vigorously.

When she emptied the cup onto the table, she frowned, shook her head, and gathered up the stones again to repeat the process, and then did it yet again. Li began fidgeting, her feeling of foreboding nearly choking her now as much as the incense. The fortune teller's hands were trembling slightly as she sorted the stones she had thrown for the third time.

"The same reading thrice thrown…" she mumbled, and then fixed her eagle eyes on Li again. "I will tell you the good first," she said, looking deeply troubled, "and only then will I proceed with the rest, though I very much wish not to." Taking a deep breath, she began.

"You and Zhou Yu, as I have said before, are soul bound, and each other's perfect equal in every way. He will love you and you alone for all of eternity, even when your bones are dust. You have another father in the form of Sun Jian, and the brothers you always wished for in his children and his generals, and sisters in the Qiao sisters, though you and the Lady Sun will never be close—neither of you will have time to become so. Your family has grown very extensive, and they all will come to love you very much, even those who don't as of yet know you well.

"You will be celebrated for your prowess on the battlefield, though the lives you will take will hang heavy on your shoulders. Zhou Yu will be there to help you, for he will understand and feel what you will be feeling, though you will try to hide it behind your mask. You have a great strength in you as well, though it is different and more direct than that of Qiao Da.

"I see four deaths that will shatter you, and one that will bring you peace, though many others will mourn it. I will not divulge the names, as each of the separate fates may change—but if all of these lives continue on the same path, it is a certainty.

"As I said before, you dream true. Heed them well, but do not let them rule you. Live. Live as though every day is your last." She slumped back into a pile of cushions bonelessly, seeming exhausted. "I will reveal no more," she said in a weak voice. "Go. I will not accept payment, just go."

* * *

Sorry. Again. . I keep saying I'm going to write, and then life decides to say, "Ha! We'll see about that!" and throws ridiculous amounts of time-consuming activities I can't get out of at me.

So no more promises. I just hope I'll be able to continue on with this again...


	28. Chapter TwentyEight

**Warning:  
Bit of a lemony chapter...prudes be warned...**

**Chapter Twenty-Eight:**

The girls had left the fortune teller's tent deeply troubled, but on the walk back to the palace, in the bright light of the slowly fading day, they laughed at their own foolishness. Surely, the old woman had been trying to frighten them, and their wits had been dulled by all the incense they had inhaled while in there. Foolish conjecture, indeed.

When they returned to the palace and went their separate ways—Li to the practice room, for there was no sense in not doing so, Da to find Ce for their last uninterrupted evening together, as the next day would be pure havoc for all concerned. Neither felt it necessary to mention their incident in the crone's tent, since it was near certainty that there would be much laughter and teasing for such a venture.

It wasn't until after midnight that a sleepless Li, packing all but one outfit of her newly bought clothes, remembered that the old woman had refused payment. It wasn't a dawning sort of revelation, her mind was wandering along much different paths when the thought sprang full-formed into her mind, making her stop mid-move, a neatly rolled shift hanging loosely in her hand.

The afternoon came flooding back to the forefront of her mind and she slowly sat down on the edge of her bed, absentmindedly laying the article of clothing down beside her. She dreamed true? No, that couldn't be…especially not the horrific scenes of battle…but what if they were? There would be four deaths that would shatter her and one that would bring her peace? Surely that was foolishness! She shook her head and laughed wryly at herself, dismissing the thoughts. But doubt niggled insistently at the back of her mind, and she found she didn't want to be alone at the moment.

In fact, she found she wanted only one person's company, and so she wrapped a robe about her and walked barefoot to the wing of the palace in which Zhou slept, hoping he would be awake. When she found herself in front of his door, she hesitated, suddenly feeling very foolish—what if he was asleep? Well, she would just knock lightly…if he was awake, he would hear it, and if he wasn't, she would go back to her room and finish packing. Steeling herself, she tapped very lightly on the door.

Waiting nervously for only a moment, she turned to scurry back down the corridor only to hear the door open behind her and a sleepily mumbled, "Li?" She turned around again and her mouth went dry. She would never get tired of looking at him, his hair mussed from lying down and chest gloriously bare, a loose pair of pants obviously hastily pulled on hanging low on his hips. The desire she felt to make those erotic dreams she'd had about him come true became almost overwhelming. She was hot and cold all at once.

Seeming to have read her mind as he so often did, he did not say a word, merely held out his hand in invitation. After a brief hesitation, she took it, and he led her into his room and closed the door, at which point she immediately took possession of his mouth. His arms slipped around her and hauled her tightly to him as the fire between them ignited into a consuming blaze as they explored each other's mouths avidly, as if it were the first time. There was no more hesitation on her part—nor his, as she blatantly enticed him to take more, to take everything they both wanted so badly.

One of her hands was threaded through his hair gripping his skull tightly to their kiss while the other was on his shoulder, digging her fingers into his flesh in her ardor. All he wanted was to remove every barrier that hid her body, to feel at last her skin flush against his, to touch her as he had been dying to do for what seemed an eternity. His hands balled in the silk of her robe as a growl escaped his throat, his control shredding very quickly under her onslaught. She moaned into his mouth and trembled in response to that feral sound, so primitive, that seemed to vibrate down through her body to settle in her core. They broke away from their kiss and stared silently at each other in the dark, their breathing coming in heaving pants. Sensing his struggle and correctly guessing its source, she pulled away from him—smiling as he obviously reluctantly let her go.

He was confused at first when she stepped back from him, the sudden absence of her body heat against his making him cold. The heat rushed back the moment saw in the very dim light in the room that she was sliding her robe from her shoulders, followed quickly by the nightgown she wore beneath it.

Suddenly, he wished for more than the diluted moonlight, only really being able to see tantalizing outlines of her body. He swallowed with difficulty, as his mouth had gone bone dry. Shakily, he drew her against him again and kissed her with all the tenderness he possessed as he roamed his hands lightly over her back to cup her buttocks, and there the tenderness ended as the urge to pull her closer became irresistible. He pulled her hard against him, lifting her up so he was cradled in her hips. She obligingly wrapped her legs around him, and he carried her over to his bed, laying her down so he could better explore her with his hands.

She was on fire as his callused hands moved feverishly over her, as if he were seeing every inch of her with his fingers while he ravenously plundered her mouth. When he had lifted her up before, she had bitten back a scream for the pleasure of his hardness pressed against the junction of her thighs and had immediately needed more. That contact had been removed when he had laid her down, but his hands more than made up for it as knowing fingers tweaked her nipples into hard points, and eventually moved even lower to where she burned hottest and found the spot that made her arch nearly off the bed, moaning into his mouth and digging her fingers into his shoulders to somehow keep hold of the reality of him, of the moment.

When he broke away from their kiss to follow the path his hands had made with his mouth, she nearly died. He lightly nibbled and suckled his way down her body, and where his mouth trailed, molten heat under her skin flowed as he sought out all the many points of pleasure on her body. All too soon, it was no longer enough. She wanted to touch him, to make him burn the way he was doing to her. She wanted to feel him surround her, fill her, and she whimpered for need of it. When his mouth trailed back up her body and to her lips once more, his body lying on top of hers, his hips between her thighs, she growled in dissatisfaction at the irritating cloth separating his hard heat from her. She reached down and tugged at the waistband impatiently, grinding herself against him as their feverish passion mounted to an unattainable peak.

Cursing, he broke their kiss and stood; yanking the pants away in such haste, he nearly tore them before he came back on top of her, resting his erection in the cradle of her thighs, not in position to enter her yet. She gasped at the feel of that smooth flesh against her most intimate skin, and to torture them both further, he moved slowly so they slid across each other until her wordless pleas drove him to place himself at her opening. He could no longer stand it; he needed to be inside her. Without further delay, he thrust himself into her ready heat to the hilt, brushing aside her virginity like a cobweb. For a moment, he remained still, reveling in the feeling of finally being encased in her sweet, wet heat, at the shock of the scalding intensity of it. Then she started moving against him, urgent, wanting more, and so he gave her what she desired, ruthlessly driving in and out of her, swallowing her cries of pleasure in their kiss. This was heaven, pure and simple. Their climax came without warning, and they both cried out as they were swept away on the blinding rush that seemed to go on forever.

When it was over, they floated on a sea of lassitude together, his weight propped up on his shoulders, her completely relaxed beneath him while he remained within her body, unwilling to give up the oneness of the moment.

Awareness jolted him. "Gods, Li, did I hurt you?" he asked, suddenly horrified.

She blinked up at him, trying to marshal her thoughts. "Hurt me? How would you have hurt me?" she asked, unable to see the reason he seemed to think he might have done so.

"I took your virginity—I wasn't gentle. I'm so sorry, I—" he was interrupted by the kiss she leaned up to give him.

"It didn't hurt," she said when she pulled back. "As far as I'm concerned, that was wonderful, and we should do it again, as soon as possible." She moved her hips against him, and the half-erection he had had sprang to full life again. She made a sound of satisfaction feeling it, and moved again.

"Gods, woman, you will be the death of me yet," he murmured as he began moving again, slower this time as to prolong the arrival of the peak of pleasure.


	29. Chapter TwentyNine

**Chapter Twenty-Nine:**

Finally, they were marching to Si Shui gate. The day before, as expected, had been absolute chaos—the halls of the palace and the barracks filled with servants, soldiers, and nobles all running about preparing everything for the morning's departure. After the battle it had been to get from the suite to the dining room that morning, Li had decided to read quietly in her room for most of the day, already having packed everything she needed. She had left the room long enough for a war council, at which strategy and her role in the coming battle was discussed, and then all had dispersed for the night.

She had been restless. She had paced back and forth in her room for what could have been hours or merely minutes before making up her mind and padding down the palace corridors to Zhou's room, smiling briefly when she heard Ce's voice from Da's side of the suite. Zhou had been awake when she had arrived, had actually been debating with himself over whether he should venture to her room or not, and was happy to see her in his doorway. They had not needed to exchange a word, merely fell into each other's arms again as though they had not seen each other in years rather than a mere few hours.

Li smiled and blushed, remembering the things she and Zhou had done the night before, and glanced over at him. Apparently on the same page, he grinned widely back, a glint of very masculine pride and satisfaction in his eyes. She snorted and looked away, deciding she would have to find a way to take him down off his high perch.

It was a long day in the saddle, starting at dawn and stopping only very briefly for breaks to relieve themselves and water and feed their horses, they ate as they traveled and were very nearly there when night fell. Ce rode back to inform them that they were going to continue on to their destination, that it would only be a few more hours. With the night it had gotten cold, and Li, grateful that she had been warned of the considerably cooler weather up north, had packed accordingly and had already bundled herself up. The road was in good condition, the just past full moon shone brightly—if brittle—down upon them, so there was little chance of injury to the horses or men.

When they finally arrived, Li was a bit surprised to find that a camp had already been set up. When she remarked upon it, Zhou murmured to her that Yuan Shao was leading this little expedition, and had been camped out since the day prior to their arrival. Wei and Shu were to be joining them as well, though it appeared that Wu was the first to arrive.

They were greeted by sentries along the outposts of the camp, which in itself was much like a city, to Li's surprise. It was huge, and the extension of the Wu army added onto it made it colossal. She did not even want to think about how large it would be once Wei and Shu arrived. "All of this for one man?" she asked Zhou. Even knowing the man was a petty tyrant of the worst sort, she could not help but feel that perhaps it was all a bit overkill.

"Three men, actually," Zhou replied. "You forget that Dong Zhuo has Lu Bu and Hua Xiong as well, and while Dong Zhuo really isn't much use, with the strength of the other two behind him, he is definitely a power to be feared."

"Ah," Li said simply.

Camp setup was a simple affair accomplished in relative silence considering their proximity to the city at Chang An. Peasants had apparently been fleeing in the night for the past weeks after having heard of Dong Zhuo's order to burn Luo Yang. The ones that had not yet gotten out were reputed to be living in terror while Dong Zhuo and his men ran rampant through the city, raping and pillaging as they pleased. The Wu party had seen none of these until they had arrived at the camp. Apparently, most of the peasants had trailed across the countryside, hiding during the day and avoiding the roads for fear of being found. Some of the peasants had remained behind to assist the army with whatever they were able in exchange for food.

It broke Li's heart to see them, simple people caught up in the chaos of a power-mad ruler. It made her grateful that she lived in Wu territory under such benevolent ruling. But for an accident of birth, she could have been one of these people. It was a sobering thought. She and Zhou slept in separate tents that night, knowing it would not be wise to keep each other up through the night where so many might hear or see them sneaking in or out of each other's abodes. Not to mention the fact that tomorrow, as they had been told by Yuan Shao's men, Wei and Shu were expected to arrive and the day would be spent in discussing strategy.

After the very long day in the saddle, Li was mildly sore and terribly exhausted, and fell almost immediately asleep as she bundled herself up under the thick woolen blankets on her pallet.

_She could see for miles, hovering above the encampment. Vast armies with yellow, green, blue and red tabards stood in formation, ready to go to their assigned positions to do battle with the enemy. There was one yellow area of the camp that she supposed was the supply depot—it carried a tinge of a sickly green, making the area look like an old bruise. _

_Disturbed, she directed her gaze to the east, she saw the enemy army in virulent purple, and wondered at their plans. On the thought, she was there, and saw clearly their layout. As to be expected there was a huge gathering inside and just outside of the gate, but there were other areas where there should not be anyone at all, and yet there were vast numbers hiding in the dense forest and among rocky outcroppings. It was as if the army waiting at the gate was merely a decoy. _

_As she watched, the coalition began marching, blue and yellow up the center, green to the north, and red to the south, where the heaviest concentration of men lay in wait. She saw that it was to be a classic three-pronged attack, and watched in horror as the armies marched unsuspecting into the traps laid out by the enemy. It was a slaughter. Despite the sheer mass of the coalition army, they were overrun by the purple as she watched helplessly. It had done no good to cry out a warning-- she had not been heard. _

She woke in a cold sweat to the sounds of many men and horses some small distance off. Scrambling out of bed, she pulled on warm clothes while cursing that she had not had the forethought to light a brazier to keep her tent warm. She hopped awkwardly out of her tent, still pulling on one of her boots. It was barely dawn, but already some soldiers were milling about, and when she asked what was going on, a man told her that Shu was arriving.

Having successfully pulled on the boot, she dashed off in some hurry to Sun Jian's tent, knowing that both he and Zhou would be up already and likely completing the strategy they were going to present to Yuan Shao that afternoon.

When she arrived at the tent, Sun Jian, Ce, and Zhou, as well as a few others she knew to be some of Sun Jian's chief strategists, all looked up from the map before them with some surprise at her entrance. Apologizing for her abruptness and actually sweating from her hurry, she sat down at the space Zhou made for her and looked down at the map with various colored figurines sitting on it. Seeing the little red and purple men on a terrain she now knew well, she felt some disturbance, but shrugged it off as foolishness.

This lasted only until they started moving the pieces along the map exactly as she had seen their army do in her dream, at which point she exclaimed, "No!"

The men looked up in shock at her, and she felt her cheeks turn red. Needing to correct the mistake, however, she asked Sun Jian, "May I?"

He nodded warily, and she moved the red pieces back to starting position and then moved some of the purple pieces into the places she had seen them in her dream, unerringly placing them accurately on a map that she had never seen before in the waking world. Sun Jian and Ce each had an eyebrow raised in curiosity, but Zhou stared intently at Mai Li after he saw where she was placing the pieces. The other strategists were irate, mumbling about how the figures were not toys and she, as a mere woman, had no idea what she was doing, much less a right to be in the tent with the men. Zhou glared at them and they subsided. She seemed driven, almost frantic, and when he looked at the map again, he stared thoughtfully and silently at it. Following Zhou's lead, the other men did the same.

Realizing the ramifications, the three exhaled. "Dear gods," Sun Jian said. "We've been assuming that Dong Zhuo will be foolish and place all of his men in one spot, not even considering that he has strategists of his own, Hua Xiong and Li Ru will have something up their sleeves for us."

"Where did you see this, Li?" Zhou asked her quietly.

She whispered something no one could hear. Sun Jian dismissed the other strategists and asked her to repeat herself. "I dreamed it," she said, somewhat shamefaced. "I dreamed it, and in the dream we went exactly the same way, and everyone died, there was nothing I could do. When I saw you planning to do what I dreamed, I had to say something. Forgive my presumption. It was just a dream."

"Nonsense," Sun Jian said. "Near all of us have some ability to see beyond the veil to the future when we dream—you are no exception, though you may see something far more practical than most. We will take this to Yuan Shao and push that he plan accordingly. It appears this battle will not be the simple thing I had hoped."

* * *

Sorry for the long wait on those two chapters, I just got them finished yesterday and today. I really am trying, guys, but it may be a month and a half before I can get anything else posted, life's about to get hectic with a two-week work assignment, a trip to Iowa, and then a trip to North Dakota.


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